Ghosts of Atlantis
by mindless-junk-247
Summary: Future fic! A new enemy is on the horizon, threatening Atlantis, Earth, the Milky Way and the Pegasus. The old and new teams must pick up their guns and travel through the gate one more time to save the universe - again.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** The city is gone, the inhabitants scattered. The original teams must brace the stargate one last time as they search for their lost children and friends. With old enemies arising with more power, new enemies a greater threat then anyone else, the teams must help save all three worlds; the Earth, Milky Way and the Pegasus Galaxy; without losing themselves or anyone else. Danger lurks around every corner and around every corner a new secret unfolds and a new problem arises

**Disclaimer: **Not mine

**A/N:** So, first SGA/SG-1 crossover fic. Anyway, I'll probably update every week or week and a half. I will try my best to keep the chapters coming though. I'd also like give a thanks to **silfrvarg** who beated the first five chapters (university took hold for her) and **bellkie** for being my new beta and betaing the first five and the rest of the story. Thanks guys!

Read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Ghosts of Atlantis Chapter 1

The first Stargate was originally discovered in Egypt in the 1920's. The hieroglyphics were like nothing that any archaeologist had ever seen before.

In 1945, the United States of America got the 'gate operational and running for the first time. They sent through a single man, who never returned.

The project got closed down until 54 years later. It reactivated, after many years of lying dormant, to unleash a whole new meaning on the word galaxy to the people on Earth.

Battles were fought and lost over the span of many years, many men being lost and gained in the ever changing fate. The biggest threat of all was the Goa'uld. Their reign of terror however, came to an end with the death of the final system lord, Lord Ba'al.

The Ori seemed to run, their people unseen of for two decades. That was another threat dealt with, another enemy seemingly gone.

Myths were proven to be factual, originating from the wonders of space. One of them; Atlantis.

In a whole new galaxy, light-years away.

Investigating this new discovery led to many more allies and another great formidable enemy; the Wraith, reawaken by the calling of a dying Wraith queen. Hunger thirsted in their veins for meat, human meat.

Enough energy meant that the city could be flown through hyperspace and into Earth's atmosphere, the very thing that was managed with scavenged ZPM's. All to stop an attack on Earth.

But that wasn't it.

Many Wraith still thirsted for blood in the Pegasus galaxy, and after waking them up they felt it was their responsibility to try to stop the cullings that were increasing in numbers as the months passed by. Finding a new, almost fully charged zero point module had been hard, but they managed it, and with the help of one Colonel John Sheppard, flew the city back to where they had taken off from.

The expedition had done well to keep the carnivores at bay for years, but the inevitable always happens, and upon the next generation is there an impending threat of attack from the starving animals.

* * *

The mess hall buzzed with excited conversations. Everyone in the city was on a high due to the upcoming events of finally being able to reach Earth in a matter of seconds once again. Even the leader of the expedition, a member of the I.O.A, was in high spirits.

Recently the expedition had managed to acquire two fully functional and full battery ZPM's, giving them the extra energy they needed to power the gate directly to Earth and not through the newly built midway station. True, it would save power, but it was just to test drive the connection and make sure that in a time of emergency, it would become a successful and stable wormhole.

Of course, the actual attempt wasn't for another week, but this didn't stop the giddiness everyone was feeling after years of being away from their families and friends back on Earth. After months of rumours and small chit chat, the thrill of the idea never ceased to exist as the topic just generated more and more talk.

At one table, sat two friends, brought together by their parents friendships. "Yes, my mother and Odeth will be joining us on the trip to Earth. They say they miss it and can't wait to see everyone again."

"Aye well, you guys will be sight seeing. My folks are havin' me go to some family picnic up in the mountains," his friend reported in his broad Scottish accent as he dug into his dinner of actual chicken noodles.

Two blue trays slid onto the table in front of the two men, "You know what they say Phil, 'Enjoy it while it lasts'."

The Scotsman gave a reproachful look to the woman, "That they do, but I've enjoyed it plenty of times. It's just that my parents are a wee tad demanding on me." The flash of a pained smile that crossed his friends face was only noticed by those closest to her. Anyone else would mistake her short gaze as someone who was bored with the conversation, "Sorry Sheppard."

"I've told you before don't apologise. That was years ago, it's, it's fine carry on. So, your parents, what've they got planned for you then?" The topic quickly changed and conversation was at a go again as Phil retold his plans that his parents had for him over the two week stay.

"Sorry I'm late," a fourth person entered as he sat down at the empty chair with a tray of food in front of it. He looked at it with a pleased expression then turned to Sheppard sat next to him as he pulled his chair in. "Thanks, still warm too," their lips met in a brief touch before he jumped into his half warm food with an appetite.

His three friends looked at him with equally humoured expressions, "Hungry much David?"

Swallowing a mouthful of food he turned in his seat, pointing his fork in her direction, "Doing some _actual_ work, works up an appetite I'll have you know."

"Sitting around and typing really does make one hungry," she remarked with sarcasm, their other two buddies sitting across from them with grins.

David stuffed another forkful of food in his mouth, turning to face his sniggering comrades across the table, "Ya'know, you would have thought that with you being my girlfriend and everything you would be nicer to me."

"And if I was it wouldn't be me," was Sheppard's remark as she planted one on his cheek and took a swig of water from her bottle.

"That's why I love you," he pulled back, meeting her lips again and going back to his noodles.

"You two do have a strange relationship," Torren remarked as he set his spoon down that now housed a small layer of white cream over it from his dessert.

Conversation soon turned back to their visits to Earth, "So what are you two doin' then?" Phil asked as he polished off his own pudding and sat back in his chair.

"Well," David started as he swallowed the last bit of his own meal and washed it down with his drink of coffee, "We're going to visit my parents, go catch up with some friends, have a few days to ourselves than I'm having some family days."

"What about you Addy?" Torren asked, knowing that she had slightly different arrangements when it came down to the McKay family days.

She shrugged her shoulders and fell back into her chair slightly, her arms crossing over her chest in the typical way of her silently saying, 'I-don't-really-care-and-would-rather-wish-I-didn't-have-to'. "Michael asked me to visit him and Jack was asking for somebody to go fishing with so, that's a few days of my schedule. Then I'm taking a day to hang around some old college buddies, and take a well earned break for the rest of the week."

They all nodded at her events, deciding long ago not to comment on the 'well earned breaks' she had.

"What's this?" David asked changing the topic so quickly, as he held up his pudding which was in a see through plastic bowl.

"Erm," Addy pulled forward and glanced at the pudding in question, "Oh lemon flavoured custard tart."

The look he gave her in apprehension was lethal, "Lemon? You know I'm allergic to lemon and any kind of citrus. Are you trying to kill me?"

It wasn't meant to be answered but his friends always found it funny to wind up the physicist over this particular topic. It was a common favourite subject of theirs. "It was pretty funny last time," Phil said, trying to smother his grin.

"It was not!" David's voice rose a little with the word 'not', showing clearly his frustration at being mocked over his allergy. "I almost died."

"Almost," Addy pointed out, taking his pudding in her hand and placing her chocolate one in his. "Now you won't." He huffed a little before taking his spoon and dipping it into the chocolate sponge. "But Phil's right, it was funny."

"Especially the part in which you ran through the corridors pushing people out of the way, screaming at the top of your lungs. I think that's the fastest you've ever ran David," Torren mocked with laughter. Being Teyla's son, nobody believed he could be as crude as anyone else. But after years of being babysat by Ronan, McKay, John, Carson, Jennifer, Lorne and Laura during his childhood, he was highly likely to pick up on some of their mocking, cruel and funny-mean mocking ways.

It was a wonder he wasn't any worse when the boys preferred to baby-sit him together than on their own.

David's mouth hung open at the comment as he failed to come up with a remark at that very moment. This only earned him more laughs, even more so when his cheeks began to grow red and he couldn't muster up any kind of coherent sentence. An arm ran around his shoulder and he felt the slight press of another body next to his, "But that's why I love you."

It was Addy, her mouth on his cheek again, helping to dim some of the brightness he had gained. "Besides, it wasn't nearly as funny as the time you got hit with a blow dart gun." This comment she aimed at Torren, rendering the older man speechless, his mouth hanging open to a similar fashion that David's had.

The event in question had involved them running from a very primitive tribe that felt that they had been insulted by Addy's refusal to dress according to their culture. Women on that planet wore nothing but grass skirts and huge leaves over their chest. It had reminded them all, except Torren and Sarris who needed it explaining to them, of Hawaii.

They were chased all the way back to the gate by the entire tribe, children included, armed with blow dart guns that were laced with a drug that turned you loopy. Torren had gotten hit and was under the influence of drugs for the next eight hours. In that time he had for some reason, professed his love for one of the plants in the botanists lab and thus tried to hug it. Later on he talked to a lamp, believing it to be an actual person who was silent and didn't want to talk back.

His sentences were the funniest however, always stringing along in the strangest of orders and making no actual sense. One sentence that mocked the Athosian was, _"And McKenzie anyway, I completely agree there, better butts gorillas than potted daisies, on warm summer days especially."_

"Where's Blaire anyway?" Phil asked, laughter still evident in his jumping throat.

"I think she's still in the botanist lab. They've been trying to extract a new medicinal sap from some sort of new plant they found three weeks ago," David signed off, his spoon waving in the air madly in time with his words, "They're close apparently."

"Bloody hell," Phil commented as he slumped in his seat, "if they catch anymore viruses from those damn plants I'm referrin' them to Johnson."

"Those plants are gone now aren't they?" Torren proposed.

"Yeah, four days ago. I had to look it over, almost made me sick," Addy commented as she finished off her food.

Silence over came them as they sat and enjoyed a few minutes of relaxation throughout their busy days. Phil had gotten more patients in the infirmary lately because of Torren who practically handicapped everyone he sparred with this week. David was pounding through his work to try and get most of it done before the big break and Addy was overlooking all items that were being taken, all security and transport details.

They were busy and would be until the day of connection arrived. "Addy, we still on for sparring tonight?" Torren interrupted the silence.

Her first response was a nod, "Yeah, 11 again?"

Torren nodded and excused himself from the table to go demonstrate to some marines hand to hand combat. "I thought we were seeing each other tonight. Movie night?" David perked up, voicing his concern to his girlfriend.

"We are," her immediate argument came out a little colder than she had intended. "We're sparring after you and I watch our film."

"Yeah but I just thought that you'd ya'know, just rest and relax for the night."

Phil left the table next with the point that with Torren sparring he'd need to prep the infirmary for any casualties. Even more so in this hour because it was double teaching, meaning Torren _and _Sarris Dex both gave lessons. Double trouble in the fighting ring those two were.

A sigh escaped her mouth at the little argument that seemed to replay itself with different topics, "I haven't had the chance to spar in a long time. I'll also be spending plenty of time with you during the two week vacation okay?"

David made some movement in acknowledgement as he moved his spoon around the edge of his pudding bowl as a distraction. "Fine, I was just, curious is all."

"Huh huh," she pulled his face towards his and told him she had to leave to plan the security of the city during the two week leave and make sure that suitable people were in place. Planting another kiss on his lips she picked her tray up and he followed her towards the trash bin. "I'll see you later," she remarked as she placed the empty tray on top of the other trays that were waiting to be cleaned.

"Have fun," he called after her as he departed the other way, towards the science labs to get ahead on his work.

* * *

He ignored the wetness growing in his knees and the trickle of water running down his face. A little rain and wet mud was easy to put up with considering what was out there, waiting for him. One more quick glance and he cleared the area as okay. A small cave up ahead caught his attention and gripping the gun to his chest preciously, he ran.

Water hit his skin in drops of ice, feeling like a sting with every step he rushed. But he couldn't slow down. He couldn't risk it. Making a dash for this warm looking cave had already been a big enough risk, the wrong risk to take.

Shouts echoed from all sides, forcing him to stop. He didn't want them seeing where he was going to hide. Footsteps echoed in his ears and he jumped the other way, rolling onto a sloping hill and falling with the land.

Feet scrambled beneath him, searching for the grip that wasn't there after being worn down on the soles of his boots a long time ago. Legs pushed him forward, the closing sounds of twigs snapping and the hiss of voices motivated his body.

He darted between the trees with ease, a skill he gained a long time ago thanks to similar treacherous journeys. Glancing back the greenery thickened and gave him a cover whilst he blended into the shadows as if he were one himself.

A tree, just a few yards ahead, held branches low enough, and thick enough for him to climb. One more look and the scene told him it was safe, so he climbed, scrambling up the tree with such ease as he raced to the top, slowing down his movements as thudding footsteps approached.

Breath caught in his throat he waited, listening against the sounds of the forest around him to the sounds of fading steps and diminishing voices. Eagerness to get out of the rain urged him to climb down, but patience taught him to wait a few more minutes to make sure that it was definitely clear.

Feet aching and his clothes sticking to his skin, he worked his way back down and through the slippery landscape, following the path he had taken before. A few more yards to the right and the cave he had spotted earlier should be in his peripheral vision. There, behind that cluster of rocks with a few branches covering the entrance slightly.

It was a miracle he had seen it in the first place considering how well it was hid. But he just thanked God for a dry, most likely warm place to rest for the night. He had to duck to get into it but he didn't mind as he pulled a few branches he had caught on the way, up in front of the hole to hide him even more.

The first thing to come off was his tattered military tack vest and then the equally tattered military jacket, the image stating 'SGC' barely visible by how worn down it had become over the years. It was laid out over the top of another rock inside the cave to help dry it out as his boots came off followed by his socks and his top layer shirt.

Left in a grey tattered vest and patched up black and brown trousers, he pulled out a small torch from his tack vest and a card from another pocket. He quickly scanned outside the area, not wanting to give his position away before turning the torch to on and unfolding the card.

It was a picture. As old and worn as his tack vest and military shirt, but the picture still visible despite the deep crease running through the centre of it. He smiled every time he saw it and now was no different as the faces beamed back at him.

He placed the picture next to his head and glanced at his wrist. It was still there. Many years ago he was given a small bracelet made by a little girl just for him, to say good luck. Little blue, green and red beads glinted back at him on the small pieces of neatly wound thread they were put on. At either end, sat a small, rough attempt made by a bead processor, replica of a plane. In the middle sat little white flat beads with the a letter on each one. 'Make it back' was the message and he smiled at the thought.

When that one little girl gave it to him he was stood outside the embarkation room at Stargate Command. She told him to hold out his hand and he did so, surprised when she awkwardly tied the little thing around it. Once done she had jumped up and given him a hug and a kiss on the check, "Make it back daddy. It's pizza night."

He laughed at her words and kissed the top of her head, "I will do sweetie, now I believe Jack wanted to talk to you."

"The chair?" The reference was the General's chair that sat in the General's room. It was common that the current General back then, General Landry, allowed the children to sit in it courtesy of one Jack O'Neill.

A saddened and pained expression replaced the happy one as he blinked the torch off. His hands wiped away the few tears that always leaked every time he thought about that day. Rolling over, the moonlight flickered through the gaps in the leaves on the photo and he smiled sadly before closing his eyes and allowing the darkness that was sleep to take over.

* * *

The reports landed on his desk with a gently thud. The name stood out and the man sat behind the desk took one last defeated look at the deliverer. Confirmation of what the report held was the shake of a head. Elliot Gibbons nodded to the man, a silent sign to go. He looked back to the file and sighed dejectedly. It was a shame when this happened to good soldiers, not unlikely considering the size of the universe, but unfortunate.

His hand went to the drawer that sat in the middle of the desk right above his knees. It contained only one other file, the name bringing a certain kind of sadness to the head of the I.O.A. Placing the larger file on the desk he picked up the reports and dissected each report carefully.

Each time, the same answer came back, _'No signs, no sightings, nothing.' _It was only due to the expressed number of people who demanded this needle in a haystack man hunt to be opened in the first place. They spared what resources they could at what times, but after more than twenty years of being missing in action, the likelihood of being found, found alive even, was slim. Extremely slim.

He lifted the front page open, revealing the picture of one Colonel John Sheppard, snapped dressed smartly in his blues. Underneath this one sat a more relaxed photograph of the man, dressed in casual clothes with his daughter in his arms. They were both wearing the same schoolboy grin.

It was a shame what had happened indeed. First her mother dies in childbirth, leaving John a single parent. Then her father fails to return from a simple recon mission which had gone terribly wrong five years later.

The red embossed letters stared up at his face on the military picture, 'M.I.A'. The standard activation level he had remained at for twenty eight years, was now changing. From another drawer he pulled out a white plain sticker and a black marker.

The lid came off and the instant smell of permanent marker filled the air with a degree of cold. As soon as the pen lifted from the sticker again a chill ran down his spine. The I.O.A did have feelings and were as compassionate about the personnel that were lost every time.

Their job was to be the strong people for those who weren't but Elliot hesitated as he pulled it off and let it hover over the previous activation level. If he put it down, it meant the case was closed and the truth buried among other files with the same problems of closed caskets and few attendants to memorial services.

With a final push, he pressed it to the picture and let the black letters hauntingly stare back at him.

K.I.A

Killed In Action.


	2. Chapter 2

So, first look at original characters; Daniel, Jack, Sam, McKay, Jennifer and a hint at Beckett. Don't worry, they'll make more appearances and will get more face time then they do at the moment.

So, thanks to **Tholey** and **Andriabow** for alerting. Reviews also go a long way people.

* * *

"Unscheduled off world activation," the loud speaker pronounced through the control room of the SGC. Armed guards ran into the embarkation room, guns raised in battle positions, ready in case emergency backup fire was needed. "Receiving SG-1 IDC," the same voice reported directly to the General.

The General approached the control desk, giving the order, "Open the iris."

Brinks, the 'gate technician, nodded, placing his hand on the identification scanner permitting him to open the iris. Heavy weapon fire exploded in the 'gate room, causing the soldiers to tense at the action. One body backed in first, gunfire emanating from their P-90. Another soon followed, carrying another on his shoulder who limped on one foot. Finally a fourth body exited the pool of blue water, "Close the iris," he shouted still firing through the open wormhole.

Seconds later the titanium iris closed and a few painful thuds echoed on the sheet. The wormhole deactivated moments later as a medical team entered the room, going over to the teams' injured comrade. "Colonel, what happened?" the General voiced, moving past the departing medical.

"Erm, I dunno sir."

"You don't know?" General Maverick commented, eyeing the remaining two team members for confirmation. Shrugging shoulders greeted his silent stare. "Go clean up, debrief in 15."

"Yes sir," greeted his retreating back as he left the room.

The Colonel turned to his friends, pulling his cap off and running a hand through his blonde hair to tousle it, "Any ideas? Anyone?"

Xian and Alex Mitchell both shook their heads in return, equally confused as their commanding officer. "Chris was the one who saw anything," Xian reported, nodding his head in the vague direction their injured friend had gone.

"If there was anything to see," Alex retorted, sighing at the thought of not knowing who their enemy was. Her hat came off and her brown hair tumbled out in a tangle of strands. As one the remaining team members made their way towards the locker room. "Honestly though, did nobody see anything?"

"I saw fire, trees, rocks, grass and the Stargate," Michael O'Neill mocked as he turned towards the men's changing room.

Alex rolled her eyes at his comment, expecting nothing less from the Colonel. "It was a space craft of some kind that I haven't seen or read about before," Xian tried, a shrug of the shoulders backing up his earlier claim of how unsure he was about the whole ordeal.

When Xian mentioned that he hadn't read about such a craft before they knew it was something different. The thick heavy silence thickened at the thought of someone or _something_ new coming to power and being able to cause so much destruction in so little time. Xian had read all of the reports the SGC had to offer due to being brought up to the present. He had joined the SGC when he was one of the few survivors from a collapsing planet that the Ori had visited many years ago on a rare visit they made to the universe.

Their planet was home to a great library, recounting many tales from across the stars and keeping record of the many different species out there. They apparently, even had descriptions of what the Furlings looked like, one of the 'four high intelligent species' in the universe that the SGC had yet to make friends with.

The attack had wiped almost everybody out, destroying countless materials. Whatever remained was soon demolished by the sudden explosion of their Stargate, just after they had arrived on Earth.

His people had been relocated the best that they could, but Xian had remained as an adversary between his people and the people of Earth.

The team parted ways as they changed into their standard BDU's and rejoined in the briefing room. General Maverick, an ageing man with salt and pepper hair, made his way into the room and sat at the head of the table. "Chris is going to live, it's nothing too severe. He'll be up and about in no time," the immediate address of their last member put to ease any fear they had. Chris, unfortunately, had gotten shot, not with the kind of bullets that the USAF used either.

The 'bullet' was more like a high energy weapon beam, skimming his body and causing him to collapse.

"So, what happened?" The three friends than retold the General about how they arrived to the sight of a battlefield. Bodies littered the floor; children, mothers, fathers, old and young. There were signs of explosions and gunfire that the team had first thought belonged to an enemy such as the Goa'uld.

Yes, all of the system lords were gone and most of the Goa'uld given up, but small factions still lay scattered across planets, believing it was only a delay until they arose victorious.

They had made their way into the nearest village, being held at gun point by an averagely technologically advanced society. That was when the attack hit again. The people had scattered, leaving the Earth people out in the open. Michael's decision to run back to the 'gate, wasn't quick enough, being the time that Chris got hit and the Colonel than carried him back.

"We have no idea who attacked you then?" The General's question was one of worry and concern. If they had lost many men over the years because of the Goa'uld, and then the Ori, they did not want to lose anymore. After so many years, they had all believed there wasn't another enemy that was too troubling for them to handle.

"No sir we don't," Alex answered for them, her blue eyes transfixed on her twiddling thumbs that sat on top of the varnished table.

That awkward, uncertain silence filled the air again. It was a moment before General Maverick spoke again, "Is it possible we're looking at a new enemy?" His answer was the silence that returned head on, blowing him back into his seat. "I'll alert all off world teams to be careful and keep their eyes open. Dismissed."

Their first destination was the infirmary. Entering the room, they found Chris's father, Daniel Jackson, stood at the side of his bed bidding him farewell. "Oh, hi guys," he greeted the group at the door, hands in his pockets.

"Hey Daniel," was the unanimous response.

"How'd the mission go?" That familiar silence crept its way back into the air again, alerting Daniel to just how bad it was, or strange at least, "What happened?"

"Oh ya' know, the usual," Michael remarked, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Find a village, play nice, get chased and shot at, the usual routine."

The returning curious and not quite believing stare showed them how unconvincing the Colonel's low detailed account actually was. "What happened?"

The three friends shared equally worried glances with each other. Unsure of how it would come out Alex tried a casual approach, "Just, ya' know, possibly a new enemy on the frontline."

"But that's nothing new right?" Michael tried to put any humour he could into the topic. But it hadn't worked as evidenced by the lack of laughter and smiles.

Daniel's finger rose to meet Xian's body, "Don't you know, everything, kind of? Shouldn't you know who it is or whatever."

Xian shook his head in immediate response, "No Dr Jackson. I merely have an adequate knowledge of things. I don't know everything. And I was unfamiliar with this type of air craft. I haven't seen it before and neither have I read anything of such description."

That annoying silence that itched at SG-1's necks was back again, itching them more than before. Awkwardly, they stood for a few moments until Daniel excused himself to go offer his knowledge on languages and mythological tales to help out on some new found, undecipherable markings.

The rest of them made their way into the infirmary and greeted their temporarily fallen comrade. Two hours was the time they managed to spend chatting and telling jokes before the doctor kicked them out and ordered Chris to get some sleep. With nothing but reports to do, they parted ways for the night and left for home, promising to see each other in the morning.

* * *

The phone on the hook, hung next to the back door, thrilled through the noise of the house. It would have remained unheard if Jack O'Neill hadn't gone for two bottles of chilled beer, sitting at the back of his refrigerator, at that present time. He peered at the clock, wondering who could be calling at this time. Setting the bottles down on the side he picked up the receiver and answered with a curios "Hello?"

"_Jack, you're up."_

"Yes I am Daniel. How's the translation coming along?" He reached over and pulled out the drawer next to the fridge, waiting for his friend's reply.

"_Oh yeah,"_ that didn't sound normal to him. Usually, when he had a new language to get his hands into, he was over the moon and always keen to get finished. _"That's fine, it's coming along I suppose."_

The bottle opener clasped in his hand he stood up straight, tilting his head slightly and giving a pointed look to the wall as if he were talking to Daniel face to face. "Daniel, what made you call at," a quick glance at the clock over his shoulder, "nine thirty at night?"

Silence passed over the line and Jack pushed the matter forward, the phone hanging between shoulder and ear. _"Kids are back, Chris got hurt but he'll live."_

"Who shot them?" One metal cap came off and then the second. Depositing the opener back into its respectful drawer he pushed it closed and dropped the caps into the bin.

"_They're not too sure." _This caught his attention slightly. But so did the cold pizza that had been ordered earlier that day.

"Okay, and you thought you'd call me to tell me this." His hand opened the box and his chocolate brown orbs digested what was left, his mind vaguely wagering the 'should's' and 'shouldn't' of eating some of it now or tomorrow morning.

There was that pause again, bringing a slight pang of worry to Jack's body. _"Xian doesn't even know who it was." _That, was definitely a reason to worry. They talked a little longer, mostly about possibly more threats from Daniel's side and Jack telling him it was just the one attack, before bidding farewell to each other and placing the receiver back in its place.

Beers in hand he walked back to the living, mind still fresh with the sudden thoughts that one attack easily turns into two, than three and four. Before you know it it's a full blown galaxy takeover plan. Legs collapsing he settled back into the sofa, handing the other bottle over as he took a few long slow gulps of his cool beverage. "Who was that?" Sam asked, taking her own sip.

Her voice pulled him out of his train of thought, "Er, Daniel. Kids got back a while ago. Chris got injured, _again,_ and he thinks, they may have discovered a new enemy." If he had beat around the bush she would have only chastised to him. Getting it all out in one meant they were at the same level.

"Well are they sure?" He fixed her with a short stare. That little edge of worry and uncertain-ness to her voice was never good in his books. A shrugging of his shoulders was all that he could manage before devouring another long gulpful of beer.

* * *

The waves lapped at the sides of the city in a soothing, calm rhythm. This, along with the muffled voices of scientists working late in their labs, was the sound that followed her path down the science lab. He was here, she knew it when she stepped into that dark room. It didn't upset her though. After spending so many years with him and becoming used to his routines, she just passed it off as him being busy, which usually was the case.

His voice could be heard, cursing at his laptop, through the open door of his lab. There he was again, typing away madly, working on some form of difficult equation or another. She waited in the door way, arms crossed over her chest, watching as his hand maneuvered the cup of coffee to his lips.

The smile she wore grew as the seconds ticked by, and finally he realised. "Oh, crap. I lost track of time again."

"Yep," was her simple answer. Crossing the threshold she put her hands on his desk and waited as he finished saving his work.

"Okay, finished," he happily cried. Jumping off his seat he quickly walked around his desk and led her away and back to his room to watch their film. "I'm so, so, so sorry," he mumbled on the way there.

Addy rolled her eyes at his words. If she's told him once she's told him a thousand times, "It's alright David. You're actually doing work. Besides, it's nice watching you work sometimes."

He pulled a face at her line, "Yeah but, I should've kept track of time. Look," he grabbed her hand in his and turned her to face him. "I'm sorry, I honestly should have checked the time after so much pestering from me and with all the stuff you've done for me lately, I should do you something in return."

A kiss in return, "You already are." He smiled awkwardly at the comment, following her footsteps as they made their way to his room. "What 're we watching anyway?"

"Oh, erm, 2012. Apparently it's a good film," he walked side by side with her as they reached the transporter and pressed the spot that was nearest to the sleeping quarters. They hooked arms with each other and enjoyed the company of the other as they strolled past various doors, "How's the erm, security detail coming along?"

"Fine, boring but what more is there. Ya' know Francesca in the science department asked to ship some of the devices back home?" David fixed her with a surprised and shocked looked. "I declined obviously. She _did _mention something about Area 51 but, I'd rather any technology stayed here. The I.O.A approved though, so I dunno how many more would be taking souvenirs with them."

"They should come to _me_ before they even think about taking anything out of this base. And don't the I.O.A care that Area 51 is run by a bunch of low jack morons who work there because they don't have social lives," David commentated, arms waving around comically with his words.

"Doesn't your dad work there?"

He became flustered for a moment, caught off guard slightly by the comment, "Apart from him."

They reached his quarters and moments later had a screen set up in front of them, a bowl of popcorn nestled in his lap and both sat on the couch in his room, enjoying the close proximity of the other's body.

* * *

He collapsed back into the couch. Finally, he'd managed to get himself a full month off from temporary work. Despite being a bit of a workaholic, Rodney McKay tried every moment he could to be home to spend time with his family. David was in Atlantis, running the head of the science department so that made seeing him a little difficult. Taylor was in college but she was due back in the next couple of days, along with her brother a few days later. Rodney wanted to be fully relaxed and completely at ease when they arrived home.

God he missed them. Children grew up too quickly was his opinion.

The front door opened and closed again and he smiled at the sound. Jennifer appeared in the doorway, her coat coming off and thrown on the back of the couch as she plopped herself down next to him. "Hey honey," he kissed the top of her head as she curled into his side.

"Hey Rodney. You're back early aren't you?"

He couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips, "I got a few extra days." Her body shook lightly next to his at the private joke they had about that particular line. What he actually meant, was that he threatened them to give him the extra days and caused grief in the system when they declined. That was the first time, after that they just gave him the time he asked for. No arguments, no complaints.

"So how's it going at Area 51 then?" Jennifer's head peeked up at him whilst his head flopped back onto the couch. He was glad he was retiring soon. His wife had done that long ago, he refused because of the many projects he still had set up from the old days. Many of which, had become beneficial over the years for NASA and the USAF, particularly the SGC.

"Plenty of new tech' coming in, from both Atlantis and Stargate Command. Mostly it's just junk, but all the same we have to catalogue it and label it. But when you get these idiots who can barely work a computer, its' surprising it hasn't all collapsed already. A hand came to rest on his shoulder in comfort. "Same old same old, how was the conference thing?"

The look she gave him was the answer. Just about as bad as his day, "Firstly, they didn't know what the talk was for, than most of them hadn't even read the de-briefing files. That was fun, trying to explain to some of the doctor's some of the key things they needed to know and more importantly why." She gave out a last cry of annoyance before standing up and making her way towards the kitchen, "Coffee?"

"Um, yeah please," he called back as he turned the television on to see what the latest news on Earth was.

Apparently someone else had been found dead, more people were upset about some form of political view or the other and a pointless speech on the global dilemma of internet usage and keeping your children away from the worse websites. They'd seen that report at least five times in a two hour slot before. And that was weeks ago.

The channel flicked again to stop on another news channel. _"NASA reports that a strange new star has appeared in the sky from nowhere. One of the reports states that the star seems to shine as if reflecting light, rather than projecting it. Another stated that it appeared to blue in sight and getting closer to Earth. A moving star." _The couple sat on the couch and listened to the rest of the report, curious as to why they, Rodney in particular, hadn't been told anything.

A loud ring sounded through the room and Jennifer stood to unhook the source of the sound. "Hello? Oh hey Carson. Yeah we're watching it right now. No, he hasn't. I don't know I mean, don't we have some sort of special Air Force satellites to pick up anything before NASA does?"

"We should do, unless for some reason they're not working," Rodney interrupted the conversation having heard Jennifer's statement. "Or there's some kind of short range interference, or even if the SGC hasn't called us yet."

Jennifer turned back to the phone, "I wouldn't think so, I mean, we've pretty much got the big threats under control right? Yeah, we'll call if we hear anything. Bye." She turned back to her husband and opened her mouth to comment when another sharp ring echoed inside the room. "Hello?" her voice tentatively asked.

Her hand stretched out towards Rodney, whispering the words 'Stargate Command' she passed the receiver over to him and listened carefully to his side of the conversation.

"_Doctor McKay?" _

"Yes?" He called back, not quite sure he wanted it to be about what he'd just seen on the news.

"_My names General Maverick and I'm guessing you've already seen the news." _It was a moment before the General on the other side of the line spoke again. _"We were hoping you'd come in and tell what exactly is wrong with our Satellites."_

His mouth went dry for a quick moment before the suggestion finally clicked in his mind, "That's it? Nothing more?"

Silence greeted him and he knew that it wasn't just about faulty satellites. _"We'd also like your opinion along with several others. Dr McKay, please. We need to know what we're dealing with." _


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So, this is where the story picks up really and where it gets interesting. Reviews are love and I'll try to keep up with updating

* * *

"What is that?" McKay's only comment resulted in the blank stare everyone else in the room threw his way. "Err, gimme a second." He pushed a scientist out of the way as he delved over the keyboard, typing away rapidly. Tense silence filled the room as he worked away. Moments later black and gray spots and streaks speckled the screen. Rodney sat back in the seat dejected by the outcome.

Sam stared at the screen over his shoulder then waggled a finger at the frizzing monitor. "It's an interference signature."

Rodney's face brightened up at the thought, "Of course, it would explain the distortion we're receiving."

"If we just recalibrate the satellites to search for a different frequency…"

"We bypass the signature…"

"And get a clear resolution image of them." Sam finished and Rodney quickly set back to work, typing away madly with Sam over his shoulder adjusting the equations as they went. Eventually, the image cleared up and zoomed in on the ship. From straight on, it looked like an arrow darting through the vacuum of space. A blue arrow that just seemed to be sitting there, on its own.

Just as the news had reported, it was blue and reflecting the light from the sun barely 3,000 miles away. A reflection that long shouldn't arrive at Earth for hundreds of years, not seconds. Everyone leaned in closer as a bright white light erupted in the middle of space and another single blue ship flew through it.

Sam's finger pointed to where the glowing white enveloped into, "McKay, enlarge that area there."

"Already on it," he typed away and a box highlighted the area. The image was blurred and after cleaning it up it still wasn't clear what it was.

"What's that?" both Michael and Jack asked, sharing a look with each other at the unison.

"Hold on, I'll zoom in again." Once more the sound of fingers hitting keys was the only sound in the whole room. That box appeared again and everyone turned to the big screen, where the image was projected, and stood shocked. "That's not possible."

"Are you sure that that's what we're looking at?" Alex asked out loud, a deft finger pointing at the screen in disbelief.

Both unofficial Stargate members that were astrophysicists, turned to the computer and read off the data being transmitted. "The naqauduh levels reads the same as the ones produced in the Pegasus galaxy. Even so, there isn't a Stargate stationed in space in the Milky Way." Sam pulled back after reporting the truth. It was an actual Stargate that had expanded beyond the actual 'gate ring. "No 'gate can produce a stable wormhole beyond the maximum capacity. It's not theoretically possible."

All eyes turned to her in the same silent question. Nobody wanted to know the answer and nobody wanted to ask the question. "We've never seen anything like this before. Like Carter said, it's impossible."

"I thought you could do the 'impossible' McKay," Ronan inputted, a smirk alight his face. The statement earned a few inquisitive looks.

Rodney flustered at the comment for a moment before regaining control of himself, "This type of thing is impossible for anyone or anything. Now, I know the Stargate is impossible in itself, but this, this is even more impossible. It shouldn't have happened, it can't happen. The power that would be required for such a massive wormhole would give the 'gate itself a makeover. Permanently."

His statement made its impact on just how much of a danger these people were. If they were even people.

* * *

The marine's back made hard contact with the ground. Even having the safety mat in place, the action received collective groans and winces from the witnesses positioned in a circle around the area. Sarris Dex stood back up, a wooden baton in hand as she strode over to the resting area and took a small swig of water from a bottle.

That was the first time in the past two hours she had taken a drink. The marines, especially the new ones, were no competition. "Alright," she spat out, turning back to the collective group with the baton proudly hung over her shoulder, "Who's next."

Many coughs and shakes of the head greeted her back. She only smiled at how easy it was to intimidate a person. There were a few shove matches going on, people trying to watch their friends become the next target. She ignored this and strode over to the flat on his back marine, a hand out to help him up. He managed, with her help, to get to his feet, wincing and gripping his side and back. Sarris patted his back and almost laughed at the wince she gained.

That moment, Phillip Beckett pushed his way into the room, his face dark with determination and anger. He, along with a few others, were the only people Sarris actually backed down to occasionally. The look on his face gave him a good start on that one. "Sarris, I need ya to stop this. I've got nine marines in my infirmary all from this. Any more an' I'll have Sheppard put a ban on it."

Sarris knew the threat was real. The Doctor sure did know how to ruin good fun. Sheppard, despite actually approving of showing the marines some real pain, would put a stop to it if the Chief of Medicine asked her to. "Fine," she grudgingly obliged. She retreated to the resting spot and handed the rest of the session over to Torren who delivered mild pain that was easy to live with.

Phil walked out again, happy that he wasn't going to be receiving anymore sparring related injured soldiers to clog up his infirmary for when an emergency arrived. You could never be too prepared.

He made his way back down the halls of Atlantis and faulted at the corner. Take a left and right back to the infirmary, or take a right and go to the labs. His stomach then growled, after having a lack of food for 6 hours, so he turned right and checked the labs.

In the third one, right at the back, Blaire was engrossed in a new species of plant that SGA-7 had brought back just days ago. "Hey Blaire."

She looked up through bangs of red hair, "Oh, hey Phil."

"Hi, ya wanna go grab a bite to eat?" She looked up at him and smiled at the offer. Agreeing they left the lab and settled into a comfortable walk towards the mess hall. After getting their tray of foods they looked for somewhere to sit and spotted David and Addy already seated and apparently in one of their heated debates.

As they approached they noticed that the tables closest to the couple were empty. "I'm just saying, I've already got plans David."

"Yeah, but I know for a fact that your plans are just sitting around drinking beer. Either that or another rotation on the security detail. I also happen to know that you've requested some extra time on base whilst most of us are off base, don't deny it."

_Oh God,_ Phil muttered inside his head. This wouldn't lighten up anytime soon, that was probably most definite. "What I do with my free time is my business not yours."

David stuck a finger at her, and pointed to himself as he spoke in return, "What if I wanted to spend some of my free time with you huh? Addy, I'm only asking for four days. _Four days._ How hard is it to give those precious four days that you're gonna spend doing work related stuff anyway, to spend them with me, your _boyfriend!" _

"Okay, okay guys you're scarin' away the people." The couple snapped out of their argument at the sound of Phil's voice and both looked around, only now just noticing the lack of people in a three metre radius. He and Blaire both seated themselves at the now quiet table, feeling the awkward tension in the air.

"_Colonel Sheppard to Control room," _Addy's earpiece spoke.

She pressed her hand to her ear and replied, "Yeah, what is it?" Phil winced at the venom in her voice. He felt slightly sorry for the person on the other end of the line.

"_Williams requests you come to the control room now." _

"Understood, Sheppard out," she finished and excused herself from the table. On her way out she pressed a quick kiss to David's cheek, despite the argument they had just had, and left the three of them on their own.

"I wonder what that's about," Blaire spoke as she started on her turkey sandwich. David and Phil shrugged their shoulders and began eating again. It was moments later when David excused himself and left the mess in a hurry having received a message over his own ear piece. "Everyone's busy today."

"Aye, I hope I'm not. I've got enough patients to deal with thanks to Sarris, _and_ Torren would you believe it." They started eating again in silence and slowly, soldiers began to flitter out of the room and the number of occupants was decreasing.

"Again?" he nodded and she gave a sigh of indignation. Conversation carried on in a light joke as the two slowly demolished their lunches, that was when Phil's earpiece spoke.

The voice on the other end wasn't one of the nurses but David's voice instead, which surprised him because David hardly ever spoke to Phil over the communications. Mostly; unless they'd recently gotten back from a mission and people were injured, or he requested a lemon allergy check up, or when he needed 'emergency' medical help in a science lab; it was face to face. _"Phil, can all of your patients be moved?" _

The CMO didn't know what to think of the question, "Yeah David they can."

"_Good, get them to the 'gate room now." _The communicator switched off and his face paled slightly. That kind of urgency in his friend's voice was always bad news. And if he wanted him to evacuate all of his patients, that was a sure sign for trouble.

Automatically he voiced orders over his headset and made a fast paced walk for the infirmary as an alarm rang through the city. The warning soon followed, _"This is James Williams, everyone to the Stargate room for evacuation. I repeat, everyone to the Stargate room for evacuation."_ Phil quickened his pace and made it to the infirmary just seconds after the city wide announcement.

* * *

Soldiers gathered at armouries and Colonel Sheppard relayed orders across the headsets for them to set up groups of gunning stations at the best locations possible. They had merely hours before the Wraith appeared in their air space and they needed to be ready.

She overlooked the soldiers for two hours before going back to the control to see how things were going. The long range scanners seemed to be picking up more and more spaceships as the seconds ticked by. Mutterings erupted through the room, down below, many people had already gathered and were crowded into the small space that was the 'gate room.

The Stargate opened and she turned towards the stairs. The long range scanners began beeping more radically in the control room. "How many David?" Addy asked as she began to make her way towards the control room stairs.

"Err, couple dozen. No wait, oh crap. I'm reading nearly a hundred Wraith ships. All different, but mostly hive and cruiser ships."

"Crap," she swore as she jumped down the set of steps and made her way towards the event horizon. "Everyone, listen to me. We are evacuating the city. We've already dialled into the Alpha site, they're waiting for you." She sent them through in groups of seven before sending another group through. "Keep calm people."

"They just dropped out of hyperspace," David's voice shouted out. Her head snapped up as she ushered more and more people through. Time seemed to fly by as hundreds of people were hoarded through the event horizon and through to the Alpha site. Phil and his patients turned up at the door and she quickly ushered them and the nurses through, Phil remaining behind just in case.

The city shook. "They're firing." She knew it was a good thing that the city had had an over abundance of firepower. Now, instead of collecting dust, it would be put to use. "Shields are holding," David shouted again and a small sigh escaped her mouth.

People were frozen in shock at the sudden few impacts. "Keep moving people!" She ordered and soon, evacuation was on the move. Once evacuation was done and she had received confirmation that all gunning stations were up, which had taken a few hours, she jogged back up to the control room. "How're the shields holding up?"

"At 30 percent and decreasing. They've been firing with all that they've got, they keep it up another hour we're toast." The most essential personnel were left behind. She didn't want to risk anyone that didn't need risking. Most of the soldiers had remained to fend off the enemy from the city. There was just Phil of the medical staff and two of his nurses. David and four more scientists from the whole department remained and her, Torren and Sarris were the last.

The city, despite the thudding of fire power on the shields outside, and the suicidal dives of many Wraith darts, seemed pleasantly quiet and soothingly peaceful. The situation however, was not. "Shields at 10 percent," one of the science staff reported.

'Gate room now clear, Addy decided to send the remaining personnel through. The ZPM's were almost drained from just holding up the shield and many lives were going to be lost. It was a fact she knew too well.

As she clicked the city wide speaker on an explosion took place directly in the 'gate room. Everybody was thrown back from their seats and were groaning from the unexpected and sudden blast. "Shields are down I take it?" Addy remarked as she pulled herself up, brushing away at bits of dust and glass that were embedded on her clothes. "Everybody okay?" A collective circle of voices greeted her back in affirmatives. It hadn't killed anyone. _Not yet,_ she reminded herself.

Standing over the controls she glanced at the 'gate. It was ruined. It was charred, fragments had been blown off of it and she hoped it was still operational. "Dial the 'gate." The technician did as he was told and they all listened to the groaning of chevrons that meant one thing.

It wasn't working.

More explosions shook the city and Addy's headset shouted out to her, _"Colonel, there's too many of them. Dart's are beaming people up left, right and centre. We're falling back, I repeat, we are falling back."_

"Understood." She nodded at the empty air and knew that they needed another way out and fast.

More explosions shook the city.

The sensors beeped again, "Erm, Colonel, we're picking up another signal."

"Probably another Wraith ship." She passed it off as she tried to think about what they could do.

"Erm, I don't think so. It's slightly smaller than the Wraith hive ships, moving fast, very fast. Energy readings for it is off the chart." The scientist reported, looking up with expectation.

David shared a look with her before moving to the scientists work station and reading the signals off to everyone else as he did. "Erm, high radiation levels, high levels of naquadah, definitely faster than the Wraith. Two days for them is minutes for these guys. Definitely not Wraith."

Looks were shared at the revelation. They couldn't handle a hundred Wraith ships, they didn't need anybody else adding to the mix. "This is, this is unbelievable. It's unlike anything we've come across before. Faster than the Asgard ships and by the looks of it more complicated."

"At least one of us is having a good time," Addy spoke, her voice dripped in sarcasm.

"Hey, I'm just saying, something like this is amazing. Way more advanced than the _Ancients_ for God's sake." That just sent a chill through her spine. The Ancients, were as good as it got. Something better than them was dangerous, very dangerous. And it was heading straight for them.

More explosions rocked the city and peoples thoughts moved back to the current situation at hand and not the one that would happen in about thirty minutes, if they even had that long.

The Wraith seemed to had grown in numbers over the years, without their knowledge. Now, with a complete army hanging over their heads they were defenceless. The _Deadulaus _was on Earth and wasn't supposed to be back for another four weeks. The enemy had dozens of ships, they had none.

_Ships,_ she repeated in her mind. _Ships? Ships? Ships!_ The jumpers. Easily manoeuvrable, shields and cloaks. Many of the soldiers had the ATA gene and were pilots themselves.

Soldiers flooded through the door to the 'gate room as more explosions rocked the city. "We've got systems failing everywhere, all over the city." At that precise moment the lights went out in the room and were changed for emergency lighting.

"Alright listen up," Addy ordered, standing on the balcony that overlooked the 'gate room. "The Stargate isn't working. The Wraith took it out, but we do have working jumpers with plenty of power. I want a pilot in each jumper with as many people as possible. Cloak as soon as you leave and avoid their line of fire." Her orders were obeyed immediately as the soldiers sorted themselves out into groups, making their way towards the jumper bay.

She turned to David, her face set in determination, "There isn't a way to save the city is there?" At the defeated shake of a head she barely heard herself say her next set of orders, "Set the self destruct for five minutes."

"Who's going to activate it?" The silence gave him the answer. "No, no, no you are not activating the self destruct. I'll do it."

"David, this is no time to be arguing. I can make it to the jumper bay and fly a jumper out of here in less than four minutes. I want you, and anyone else to head to the jumper bay and make sure that there's still one there."

Her friends delivered pats on the shoulders to her as they headed out to the jumper bay. Soldiers gave her salutes and a warm thank you, "It's been nice serving you ma'am."

"We're not dead yet," was her general response with a fake false smile. _Not yet._ The words echoed back to her and she shivered. One slip of the foot, one small fall and she could blow up with the city.

David stood, watching everyone leave before he turned to his seven years girlfriend, trying his damndest to seem nonchalant about the situation. "Addy, I'll, I'll see you in a while I guess."

Addy smiled back at him and they embraced each other in a fierce hug. They didn't want to let go and David kissed her with all the passion he could before pulling out of her arms. "Make it out," he whispered against her lips before pulling completely away, standing a foot away. "I love you Addy."

Another explosion. They needed to get out and soon. "I love you too David. Now go, no matter what you don't come back. Don't forget that I love you."

"Always have always will," he tried to sound jolly but it sounded pained against the threat of death. "I'll be there." David nodded once and kissed her again, briefly then turned his back solemnly on her as he made his way towards the jumper bay.

More explosions and she waited. _"All clear Colonel," _came the voice she had been waiting for. She nodded to herself and typed in her password and waited as the countdown initiated. Picking her feet up she turned and ran, taking the steps two at a time, towards the jumper bay where a single jumper remained waiting for her.

* * *

David watched with growing anticipation through the screen of the jumper. He would see the jumper as soon as it left the tower. They couldn't cloak inside the city after some incident with the wiring of the city some fifteen years ago.

His eyes jumped to his watch and back as they caught sight of a hyperspace window opening up just above the city. That must be the new ship. That was all that ran through his mind along with the numbers one minute. She should have been out by now.

He waited, patience wearing thin and then it happened. The city exploded with the self destruct. He was out of his seat in a matter of seconds, "Addy!" came tearing out of his lungs in an instant.

No jumper through the smoke and fire, no radio transmissions to confirm her presence. Nothing. He was pretty sure that he must've been screaming at the pilot to take them back because both Torren and Sarris had to drag him to the back of the jumper. Phil sat next to him and tried to comfort him.

But the tears wouldn't stop. He didn't care that he was crying, he needed to. Frantically his fingers scrambled with his headset in one last act of hope. Static greeted him for the ten minutes that he tried and soon he was breaking down into his best friends arms.

An unpleasant atmosphere took hold in the jumper, not just at the sight of David breaking down and crying for the girl he just lost, but for the loss of their friend. Nothing was said as the pilot, Major Evans, made their flight pattern out of the atmosphere and away from the smouldering remains of what used to be their home and now the resting place to many fallen soldiers and friends.

* * *

The 'gate at Stargate Command kawooshed into life. "Unscheduled off world activation."

"Do we have an IDC?" General Maverick prodded. He was surrounded by the tense people that had walked either these halls, or the great city of Atlantis's hall's for at least five years and had escaped one nasty scrape after another.

It was a moments hesitation before Brinks reported the news, "It's an old SG-1 code sir."

The confusement in everyone's minds wasn't lost to anyone. "How old are we talking about?" Jack asked, one of his arms around Sam's shoulders protectively.

Brinks turned in his chair to face the group of people awaiting his answer. "Colonel Car-O'Neill and Dr McKay, Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Cadma-Beckett and Colonel Sheppard, sir."

That really was a long time ago. At least twenty years ago it had stopped being used. They had other things to do in life such as raising families and helping out in other places. Nobody else had used it because the codes had to be changed for safety reasons every seven years. "Open the iris," General Maverick ordered. Brinks nodded and opened the iris.

The rippling blue wormhole stood winking at everyone as they each held their breaths in anxiousness. It seemed like minutes passed before a single person passed through and stumbled down the ramp. Their arms went up defensively at the readying of guns from the security soldiers stationed in the 'gate room.

"Is that?" Rodney asked, pointing towards the person, his sentence lost as nods greeted him back.

"Isn't he-"

"Yes, he was," Sam finished for Carson as they all very cautiously made their way towards the 'gate room.

Upon entering they stood rooted at the door, staring at the haggard man before them. At first, they all thought he was a ghost, but now, after seeing him up close, they knew he was as real as any of them. "Hey guys, long time no see," he spoke, a lame boyish smile upon his features as he tried to loosen up the atmosphere.

Long time was an understatement. His hair had turned grey, an almost full head of silver that didn't look too out of place on him. Green eyes were still there, hiding behind the mop that always was his hair. His clothes were tacky and worn, an old 'SGC' insignia on the shoulder of the extremely faded green jacket.

A P-90 was strapped to his chest, how loaded it was after all this time was unsure of to anybody, the same with the 9mm handgun he had strapped to his thigh. The knife that protruded from his belt was another question, stained a glistening silver that contrasted badly against the muddied and torn clothes.

The only person able to whisper something in response was Sam, "John?"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it's taken me a while but chapter 4. And people, please review. I'm getting the image not many of you like this story.

* * *

His heart thudded tightly in his chest. _Keep calm, steady breaths,_ he instructed himself as he sat as patiently as he could in the wooden chair. John knew that it was protocol for questionings to happen whenever somebody came through the 'gate. They needed to be assessed for threats or dangers.

Even missing personal.

Fingers played with the small band around his wrist and his throat constricted at the thought. So many questions flew through his mind. The same ones he'd asked himself before, but now, now it just seemed too real to even exist. Back when he wasn't on Earth and 'away', everything before it had been like a dream. As if he was seeing it through somebody else's eyes and living their life. He had to convince himself every time that it was his life, his past, his memories. Nobody else's.

The door opened and John was brought out of another string of questions that still flew around his mind. The intruder to his musings was an official I.O.A member. He'd met enough to know them by sight. Silence scattered through the room, bringing with it a vivid tension in the air. Sheppard watched as the I.O.A member set up some files, a tape recorder and quietly seated himself. His hand stretched out and clicked the 'record' button on the player. "What is your name?"

Sheppard inwardly cursed at the mediocre question, "Colonel John Sheppard of the United States Air Force." The mediocre questions continued and John grew more and more impatient as the minutes ticked by. He was pretty certain that it had turned to hours some time ago.

After what seemed like the thousandth question, John slammed his palm onto the top of the table, stopping the man mid sentence.

"Look, I haven't had a _hot_ shower in twenty years. I've been eating trees and berries for that time too. I've missed my friends and I certainly miss my daughter. Now, can you please stop asking these stupid questions and let me see her?" His voice rose louder and louder as he spoke, anger punctuating every syllable the more he spoke.

The room tensed up and the people watching behind the two way mirror looked at one another. "General?" Jack asked, turning his gaze to Maverick. The simple word was a good enough question, promoting the General to pick up the phone on the wall and order the control room to dial _Atlantis._ "Shall I?" he gestured to the room and received a nod.

He quickly made his way into the room and nodded to the I.O.A member to leave. "Jack," John spoke, his tone softer having seen a familiar and friendly face. "Oh am I glad to see you."

"How've you been John?" Jack took the seat opposite the Colonel and let his hands fiddle around with the recorder, turning the recording device off.

"I just want a burger, some beer, a nice hot shower and to see Madeline again." Jack laughed a little at the humour of the Colonel's first requests.

He clasped his hands together and laid them on the table, "We're working on that." The retired General caught the suspicious look that John was giving him. He sighed, "We're contacting _Atlantis _as we speak."

"_Atlantis__?"_ John echoed the name, surprise and horror in his voice. "You let her go to the Pegasus galaxy after I told you not to?" The accusation bit into Jack's heart.

He fixed John with a firm gaze, "You were missing for _twenty eight__years_! What was I supposed to do?"

"Respect my wishes as a _father_." Jack sighed and ran a hand through his silver hair.

His hand shot out in an exemplary way, as if showing John something that he couldn't see. It fell back to the table with a soft bang, "I tried alright. I tried for you John, but she is so damn hard to argue with. She's stubborn, okay, very stubborn. Once her minds set on something there's no changing it."

It was a pitiful defence but it worked well enough for John to lighten up and allow some sort of friendly conversation to take place. It continued on for a while before Sam knocked on the door. "Erm, Jack?" She nodded outside and he pardoned himself.

"What?" he whispered.

Sam peered over his shoulder to see if John was listening before fixing a lost gaze on her. Down the hall, Rodney McKay's voice could be heard along with Carson Beckett's and Jennifer McKay's. They were all arguing and shouting by the sounds of it. Even a little crying if Jack heard right. Something had happened in the past five minutes, something big. He fixed his brown orbs onto her blue ones and his gut sunk at any thought of a happy ending, "We can't get a lock onto _Atlantis._ Neither can the midway station."

He froze on the spot. They were due to make contact with the city in a few weeks time. They'd also just sent a report only a week ago, updating the SGC on the progress of the city. Whatever had happened, it had happened fast and without warning. That was something that Jack understood from the problem.

His head twisted slightly, to look back over his shoulder at the tense man behind him. Sam caught his gaze and shrugged her shoulders. How were you supposed to tell a man, who had been missing for almost thirty years, that his one and only daughter was now all of a sudden missing along with hundreds of other people? How?

* * *

The jumper sat down on the rendezvous planet, where the other puddle jumpers had been waiting for them. When the rear hatch opened, nobody in it moved, the pain inside having kept them rooted to their seats.

A soldier set foot at the bottom of the ramp and counted their heads. The absence of the second in command, didn't go unnoticed by him. "Colonel Sheppard?" He received silence and a few shakes of the head as his answer. Quietly, after muttering a "Sorry" to everyone in the jumper, made his way back to the mulling soldiers outside that were awaiting orders. For them, the orders wouldn't come.

The pilot left the jumper bay, going out to get some sort of order and probable plans going on. Everyone knew that they couldn't stay here for long. There was no telling how safe the place was, or if it was at all. _"I'll be there."_ Those were her last words to him, and it hurt. It stung his body and gave him aches in every muscle.

Abruptly, after one breakdown, he got up and left the jumper bay without a single word. "David?" Phil's voice followed his trail, but he didn't respond. "Doctor McKay?" Sounded too, but he didn't turn around or answer any of the questions people threw at his back.

Head down, he watched his feet as he made his way through a tree line. He had no idea where he was going, only that he was going away. He needed space from everybody. A glance over his shoulder told him nobody was following and that he wasn't too far away to get lost.

Another few meters and he stopped, planting his body on a fallen, mossy tree log. The tears flew stronger than before as that one line kept repeating itself. Elbows braced on knees he shuddered as the pain tore through his centre, sending him into shivers of tears. He cried hard and long, crying more than he had in the jumper.

David lost track of how long he had been alone for. The only thing to bring him out of his depressing thoughts was the comforting arm on his shoulders. He didn't care who it was, but he just cried even harder into their chest. "Let it out, let it all out," came the soothing voice. He recognized it as Sarris's.

One look at her father and you would never believe that she was caring. She even did her best to put that image out there, but her friends knew differently. David knew too, which was why he didn't move and the feeling of embarrassment, of being a fully grown man that had been caught crying his eyes out, never came. She didn't question these sort of things if it was as clear cut as this. Just sat there, listening and understanding. Quiet, waiting with her friends until they were stable enough to put on a small façade.

Torren stood with the new lead soldier, Major Brent Petti. "We need to re-supply and get into contact with Earth," the Major reeled off. They moved away from the group as they spoke, not wanting people to overhear and get their hoped up that they were definitely going home. It might not be true.

"We wait," was the order Torren threw back. The Major protested at first, but Torren held a hand up and silenced the man, "We wait. Just for a day. There may still be a chance that Colonel Sheppard made it out. If we leave now she may never find us."

"All due respect _sir, _due to her disappearance I'm effectively put in charge. I don't feel glad about how it happened, but I'm in charge and I give the orders. We don't know if the Wraith were able to follow our positions or if they aren't already here waiting for us. So we leave." Those were the parting words of the Major as he left the other man standing there.

Phil approached him, staring off at the Major as he issued orders to people, "What's going on?"

"He wants to leave." Torren heard the protest in the Scot's voice and nodded along with him. The Athosian moved towards the manoeuvring group of soldiers and whistled loudly, catching everyone's attention. "We are not leaving yet."

"Torren," Major Petti ground through gritted teeth.

Torren ignored the man and looked round at the curious group. "We need to rest. We've all done a lot of work today, we need to regain our strength and then move out. We also require supplies. What's the point in moving planets if we don't have any food to eat." This last line caught people's attention. With the need to escape from the Wraith, food wasn't a primary item that was taken into account when evacuating.

Major Petti grumbled complaints as people were agreeing. He then spoke up and issued his own set of orders, "I want three teams sweeping the area and setting up a perimeter. Two teams to scout for food and the rest of you to take inventory of we do and don't have."

Immediately people shuffled off, grouping themselves. The Major gave Torren a biting glare before joining the party to set up a perimeter. The Athosian just brushed it off as he turned his back on the busying people to face his friend, Phil. "I take it Sarris went after him?"

Phil nodded in response, his eyes automatically flicking to the trees. "Aye, she did. Poor guy." Torren nodded silently, agreeing then stepped into the jumper to see of there were perhaps any ships out there that could pick up their frequency. More specifically, he was trying to see if signs of a jumper in the area, or crashing if she was lucky enough to escape.

* * *

The six friends sat around the table, silence filling the empty space as each of them studied the table intently. "It's nice to see you again," Rodney perked up, trying to sound positive. Five pairs of eyes snapped to him, mirroring his inner feelings.

"Aye," Carson finally let out a breathe he hadn't known he'd been holding. His eyes reflected the pain that was inside everyone seated at the table, "it's a shame about the circumstances."

Only two nods greeted him back, nobody else feeling much like talking. Laura Beckett's hand tightened in her husbands, her head resting on his shoulder with her blue eyes still puffy and red. Jennifer had her arms wrapped around herself, Rodney's arm wrapped around her shoulders comfortingly. Ronan sat with his hand entwined with Amelia's hand. Not one of them wanted to break down again, trying to come up with some form of plan to find their children again.

"We need to tell Teyla." Ronan's voice jerked everyone's head through the silence. That was another thing. Teyla lived in the Pegasus galaxy with her second son Odeth and the main settlement of Athosians. When the time came that her friends were returning to Earth to meet with families and probably never return, she retook up leadership more personally with the Athosians. After everything that her and her friends had accomplished, she couldn't leave her people. Torren was the best link between her and Earth, Atlantis being the main postal system for the messages she received and sent.

Now they had to 'phone' her up and tell her that her eldest son was missing. An alarm sounded and all heads snapped up at the words, _"Unscheduled off world activation." _Those four words brought a little hope to their hearts as they rushed from their seats and made a direct route to the control room.

General Maverick nodded to them, Jack, Daniel, Sam and the members of SG-1 reached the room as well, all crowding round to see who it was. The crowd were hoping for the same people. "Receiving IDC." Brinks reported as the signal was processed through the data banks. "It's the Midway Station."

"Open up the iris," General Maverick ordered. The tension in the room grew as a video transmission came through the screens.

"_Stargate Command, this is the Midway Station. We're sending through personnel from the _Atlantis_ expedition. Apparently, they opened up a stable wormhole to the Alpha site before coming to us." _

"What's the total numbers we're looking at?" Maverick asked. That was the point when people began appearing through the event horizon in all sorts of uniforms and in a slow trickle.

The midway personnel looked back over his shoulder and glanced back to the waiting group, _"Well, they're coming straight through from the Alpha site and into the SGC. Williams says that almost everyone was evacuated." _

Bodies stiffened at the word 'almost'. That meant that people had been lost. Maverick avoided looking at the awaiting group behind him as he addressed the technician again, "Do we have any ideas who is missing?"

A sigh escaped the lips from the man on the other end of the video feed. His hand moved off screen and came back to reveal a clip board which, from a glance, housed a lot of names. _"There's a lot of people unaccounted for that never made it to the Alpha site. I'll send the list through with one of the people."_

"Understood," the General nodded.

_"What's more, the _Atlantis_ expedition seemed to be streaming a lot of data through to the Alpha site. It's being transferred through to you right now." _

The General nodded again and the transmission ended. He turned to the group and nodded with a solemn grim expression. "Personnel are still coming through. I'll let you look at the list as soon as it arrives. I sincerely hope they made it out." There was a thick silence as the possibility of the truth sunk into everybody's minds. General Maverick decided to try to relief some of the pain, "It could be that there's a small glitch and David McKay and the other scientists are working on the problem. Could be that they're trying to get through to us now."

Faint nods were given back and he held is hand out to the door. They filed out, wanting to get their hands on that list as soon as possible. When they reached the embarkation room, an air man stood with the previously seen papers in hand. Laura reached it first, snatching from his hand as her eyes skimmed down the list. Everyone else crowded round to try to _not_ find their child's name.

"Give me some room, I'll read who I find," she ordered and a small circle appeared around her. It was a few seconds before the first name was listed, "Dr David McKay, CMO Phil Beckett." Tears threatened to spill, but she pushed them away as she stumbled through the next names, "Torren Emmagen…Sarris Dex…Colonel Madeline Sheppard."

"Sheppard!" Rodney shouted a few seconds having heard the names. Everyone looked up to him with realization and it was Jack that left them alone, going to give the father a final verdict.

The arthritis in his leg was catching up to him after today. He had a slight limp that was always playing up every now and again and it had chosen now to throb through his muscles. Sam was next to him in seconds, her hand in his as together they made their way down the SGC corridors. They could hear the banging and shouting of John coming from his holding cell. He hadn't yet been cleared properly and the I.O.A were still deliberating a conclusion.

Jack nodded to the two air men stationed outside and stepped inside. "Wait outside," he told Sam. She pecked him once and closed the door silently. Jack sighed and turned to the waiting man. "John," he gestured to the empty seat. "Sit down."

"No thanks Jack. Thanks for the offer though." There was a moment of silence as Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets and John shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "What's going on?"

"Huh?"

"Whose come in through the gate?" as if to prove a point he pointed to the alarms and speakers above their heads.

"Oh," that was all Jack had to say before slowly turning back to the old Colonel. "John, that…there's been an evacuation. On _Atlantis_."

Eyes narrowed suspiciously, "And?"

Jack's lips tightened as he thought over the best way to deliver the message. "Not everyone made it to the Alpha site."

Nothing else needed to be said. He could see that in the younger man's eyes as he nodded sullenly, turning his back on the General. Jack watched as a hand ran over John's chin and he winced when the Colonel kicked out at the bench, a loud bang resonating around the room. Fists thudded against the wall and Jack closed his eyes at the sight of John hunched against the wall.

It was made worse by the thickening silence that sunk into every space in the entire room. Another thud echoed and Jack looked up to see John getting ready to hit the wall again, "Sheppard," he spoke softly.

The anger in his eyes made him jump as he approached the General. John opened his mouth to speak but seemed to think better of it. An awkward moment passed before John opened his mouth again, "Who attacked them?"

"The Wraith," a grim expression took on his features. John had known that the Wraith were still a threat, that they hadn't ever actually disappeared. It was only a matter of time until they arose again. His shoulders slumped as he perched on the edge of the bench, hands clasped together supporting his chin.

Jack took a seat next to him and kindly put his hand on the man's back to comfort him.

* * *

SG-1 sat in stoic silence in the locker rooms. Their friends were gone. 'Missing In Action' was the correct term, but with an evacuation for the whole city, that only meant trouble of a huge scale. "Maybe they got out," Alex tried as she leaned her back against her locker.

"Maybe," Michael echoed, head down at the loss. Xian sat in momentary silence before he stood up and started for the door, "Where're ya going?"

He turned on the spot, brilliant blonde hair not moving as he did, "To check on Chris. We should give him an update as to the situation."

The other two members shared a look before nodding and moving with him. When they reached the infirmary, Chris was wide awake and it was eager for information. "Guys, what's going on?"

Alex was the one who decided to break the ever growing silence, "_Atlantis_ got attacked by the Wraith. They had to evacuate."

"Whoa, well did everyone get out I mean…?"

"No," Michael inputted, stopping any train of thoughts. "No, people are missing." At Chris's wondering glances all three shook their heads at his silent question.

"_Unscheduled off world activation,"_ rang through the room and all four turned to look up at the speaker. Chris ushered them out at their desperate glances.

Slowing down as they approached the control room, they caught sight of the computer screens flickering and flashing. Through the fuzziness and the static everyone in the room could make out a vague shape that resembled a face. "Earth," it exploded through the room. "We wish for your surrender. Failure to do so will result in the loss of lives. Any attempt at an attack and we shall retaliate, wiping out your larger populations first."

The screens returned to their normal sights and everyone looked around at each other, "Oh crap," was the only comment that was made by Colonel John Sheppard. All eyes rounded on him in suspicion and he gulped at the thought of the explanation they were due.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So sorry it's taken me a while to get this up. But once again, great thanks to my Beta: Bellkie/ Holly. You've been amazing and people: PLEASE REVIEW. I don't know whether or not you are liking this or if I am posting this for the hell of it.

Anyway, read enjoy and REVIEW please.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

* * *

Silence sounded through the room as John finished retelling his story of what exactly had happened to him over the past thirty years. It was still a shock to hear that these 'new' aliens weren't in fact new, but old aliens that had been hanging around for so long. It worried them, that they had no idea what these people wanted with Earth. John had said that he knew roughly what they wanted with him, "Something about the ancient gene."

"Then why take only you?" McKay remarked as he pondered over the possibilities, finger pointing at the accused man. "There're plenty of people with the same gene."

"But none as naturally strong," Daniel interpreted, his voice drifting with realization dawning on him.

When questioned about his escape, he only shrugged, the event still a blur in his mind. He had managed to recall coming out of a ship and heading towards a Stargate, dialling in what he thought was the Alpha site. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the Wraith were there. That was when he realized that he was stuck in the Pegasus galaxy with no IDC remote transmitter and a tracking device in his neck.

"So that's why you couldn't immediately come back," Sam summed up.

John nodded and had carried on explaining about how he had found a decently civilized planet and had them remove it. That was the time when he could peacefully try to find a way back to Earth and how he had only gotten that far, a little over five years ago. About seven years he had spent being chased and the rest of the time he was locked up in the alien's ship.

When quizzed upon how he'd gotten an IDC remote transmitter and the right address, along with getting himself into the Milky Way Galaxy, John proposed the idea that he had heard rumours of a settlement of Athosians that had a working transmitter. So he had paid them a visit and then only needed to find a place with enough power.

This was what he had spent most of his years doing, finding the right planet that could produce enough energy to open up a wormhole straight to Earth. Somehow he'd found one, but at a cost of their lives unfortunately. When the Stargate had connected the people who had abducted him had found him and attacked the settlers for helping him. So he coded in an IDC and hoped that it worked, and here he was.

"That, was one interesting story," Jack commented as he sat back in his seat and watched the man with apprehension.

John only nodded. "So," Laura commented, her hand still entwined with her husband's over the loss of her son and his friends still. "You've no idea what they wanted?"

"No, just something to do with my ancient gene." This sent up a red flag in everyone's minds.

* * *

Major Petti returned to the resting jumpers, hands on his P-90. He spotted Torren in one of the jumpers, "What're you doing?"

"Seeing if there are signs of a fallen jumper in the area. Perhaps she needs medical attention," Torren replied, not letting the matter drop that their friend could still be out there.

The Major only nodded, deciding it was useless trying to argue with the man, "There isn't a Stargate on this planet, we'll need to find another." Silence greeted him as the sound of clicking of buttons and a radar beeping filled his ears. "We've scouted out the area and it seems there's no immediate danger, we'll rest for the night and move out in the morning."

Torren nodded to the man's words and continued sitting in the pilot seat, face forward and eyes glancing between the windscreen and the radar in front of him. They weren't picking up anything and he knew that they had to try to find a way to Earth.

* * *

Sarris rubbed soothing circles on David's back, his sobs dying away into little shudders as he calmed his breathing down. Minutes passed before another sniff sounded and David sat up, wiping a hand across his eyes, "Thanks," his voice croaked out hoarsely.

"No problem," she replied coolly, eyes glancing up at the darkening sky through the gaps in the trees leaves.

Snivelling and rustling leaves were all that surrounded the pair as they sat in companionable silence, the comfort of a friend next to them enough. A bird's cry echoed in the trees and David jumped at the sudden harshness of it against the silence. Sarris laughed at the sight lightly and David's lips tugged into a small smile at the sound. "Think you can come out?"

"Yeah, I'm done," he winced at the strain in his voice and clapped his hands together, putting on a semi happy face so that people wouldn't get too invading into his feelings. He let Sarris lead the way and brushed the final leaves hiding the opening away, stepping out into the clearing to see many Marines, Air Force personnel and a few other members of the expedition grouped around together in clusters, muttering to themselves and arguments starting to rise.

* * *

The General sat in his office, red phone tightly pressed to his cheek as he discussed the situation in Stargate Command to the President. With a final, dejected sigh he placed the phone back on the receiver and ran a hand over his face. Fingers interlinked as he set his elbow on his desk and placed his chin on top of his hands, eyes staring out at the awaiting teams in the conference room.

It seemed like such a small space now that he looked at it. Both old SG-1 and SGA-1 teams either sat down or stood about pacing the carpeted floor. New team members talking in hushed whispers and other personnel listening in to the conversation.

The President hadn't liked the news that John Sheppard had delivered, proposing that a few officials that were highly trusted to be sent to handle the matter. General Maverick was also supposed to run all decisions through the President and keep him up to date.

With a final sigh he pushed his chair back and opened the door that led into the conference room. It fell silent upon his arrival and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was delivering what felt like a death sentence. "The President has sent a couple of his officials over to access the situation. For the moment, the _Daedalus _will begin a trip to the Pegasus galaxy and assess the situation in _Atlantis._"

"That's not going to be very helpful now is it?" Cameron Mitchell inputted. He'd arrived a few hours ago at the wish of his daughter and the General as a hopeful advocate for ideas.

"In the mean time," General Maverick continued, ignoring the old Colonel's remark, "The President has ordered a full report from you Colonel Sheppard. He wants details that may help to show a weakness in the enemy that we can use to advantage."

Eyes turned to John as silence passed on. He glanced round, nervous at the sudden attention after years of isolation and seclusion before sucking in a deep breath. "Sir, like I said before, I was held captive in the same cell for a very long time. I'm still not entirely sure how I got out." Maverick nodded at John's statement and took his seat at the head of the desk.

"So people, what have we got?"

He looked up at the sound of shuffling steps. Nobody was sure what to think of this new situation. A new enemy had just demanded a planetary surrender or they will wipe out human civilization across the whole planet. Rodney was the first to speak, clearing his voice and attracting the attention of everyone. "Well, Samantha O'Neill and I have been developing a program to try to determine whereabouts in space the message originated from. So far," he turned to the laptop on front of him and began tapping away before turning everyone's attention back to the screen. "We've managed to deduce that they are somewhere in this squadron of the galaxy." A white circle showed up on the screen, pointing out where he meant.

"How exactly does that help us?" Vala interrupted receiving an elbow in the side and being cast a stern gaze from Daniel to say 'Shut up'.

Sam answered her question, "Judging from the reports of the _Atlantis _expedition, more specifically the technicians in the 'gate room, the very craft that we saw on the video feed from before, cut the time taken to travel from point A for example," she pointed to a random spot in space on the image, "to point B," again she pointed to a different spot on the other side of the map. "That they were able to reduce what should be a few days or weeks to merely hours."

"So," John interjected, "How long would it take them to reach Earth?"

All eyes turned to Sam for the answer. Knowing how long they had to come up with a plan or five, and any and all possible scenarios to consider, was always helpful in their position. "We estimate it to be approximately three days and twelve hours."

A moment of terse silence roamed through the room again as everybody tensed at the poor news. That, from an estimation, amount of time to think up a plan to take on a whole new race possibly more powerful than the Goa'uld, was not enough time. Especially with the life of every human being in the balance. General Maverick turned to the big group before him with a solemn expression, "Any more ideas?"

Receiving none he shuffled his chair back, "Until the President's adversaries show up, we'll have to sit on our hands. In the mean time, I suggest you all try and come up with a few ideas and try not to panic anyone else too much." He left the group to ring up the President again to deliver the new news. The General was sure that he wasn't going to be receiving any good replies in response.

"General?" The question stopped him in his tracks. Frozen in the door way he waited for the next question to come from Daniel's mouth, "What do we do about our families?"

He half turned over his shoulder to glance at the expectant faces. "Call them, there'll be room on the evacuation list if it comes to that."

* * *

A black pick up truck pulled up outside the college and Heather dragged her bag behind her. Jacob slammed the door shut and helped his sister by taking her bag off of her. "Hey squirt, how's college?"

She brushed back her blonde strands and shot him an annoyed look, "Fine I guess. Why'd I get dragged out of it again?" Jacob shrugged his shoulders as he placed her bag in the back and made his way around to the driver's seat. Slamming his door he listened to the clicking of seat belts before pressing his foot on the accelerator. He watched as Heather fiddled around with the radio stations, turning them over at the constant repeating words 'Star', 'NASA', and 'New life'. In the end she just ended up turning it off and slumping back into the seat with a humph.

"You and me too squirt," Jacob commented as he made a left.

"Shut it Jake," she shot back. He knew she hated that nickname, but he would never stop calling it her. Small conversation passed between them as they drove on through Colorado Springs before making a final turn up to Cheyenne Mountain. "I hate this place," she muttered as she jumped her gaze between milling soldiers.

Jake only laughed at her comment, knowing that she was never one for violence or even liking the idea of Military altogether. A blue Sedan sat a couple of parking spots away caught his attention, "Hey isn't that?"

"Dan's? Yeah," Heather turned to look at her brother curiously. He parked the car and the two of them jumped out as soon as it came to a stop. Flashing their passes they made their way into the elevator and rode it down to meet their parents on level 28. "You don't think it's too serious do ya?"

Jake spared her a grim smile, "Probably nothing. Ya know what Mom and Dad are like." She wasn't convinced by this and neither was he. But he didn't admit this and held his breath as the elevator came to a stop. At the door, waiting for them was their brother Michael. "Hey Michael."

"Jake, Heather," he greeted them, accepting the hug off his sister. "How's it going guys?"

Heather immediately slapped at his arm, "How's it going? I got dragged out of college for your ass, now tell us what's going on."

The three siblings stood there, Heather with her arms crossed, Jake with his hands stuffed in his pockets and Michael with a hand to his arm, "Ow." He broke through the silence before turning on his feet and leading the way. "We'll explain in a minute c'mon." They followed and exchanged small talk as they made they towards the mess hall. Reaching it they were drawn to the sight of their parents, "Runts are here!" Michael called out mockingly.

Jake gave him an eye roll before swiping a hand to the back of his head gently, "I'm the oldest so that makes you the runt, runt." Jack and Sam sat them down and began to explain about the possibilities of a new threat and that they wanted to make sure that they were safe. When Jack finished explaining the story he watched for any reaction from either child. "Holy Hannah," the eldest reported.

"Hold on," their daughter interrupted, "What about our friends? What about our lives?" Silence greeted her and she almost jumped from her seat. Nobody had an answer for that. One of the few ways their friends would be led to safety would be if they managed to get to a drop off point that would transport them to a safe location deep underground. A bunker for the public against alien threats.

Yes, people had been told about the alien attacks on Earth that were witnessed by them. They were yet to discover the secret behind the defeat of these enemies, including the Stargate. That issue had struck up many conflicts throughout the Presidential ranks and through many countries leaders. In the end, because of the riots that the secrecy of aliens had caused, it had been decided that the Stargate itself would be kept a secret.

* * *

Rodney approached his friend and laid a hand on his shoulder in comfort. John cast him a quick glance over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the Stargate. "Hey buddy."

"Hey John," Rodney squeezed out as he came to stand next to him. He kept glancing between the embarkation room and his friend, whose gaze was firmly fixed on the giant ring. "Look," this caught the old Colonel's attention, "John, I err, I'm sorry. About Addy."

"Addy?" He quizzed, eyebrows creasing together.

"Well, yeah, that's err, that's what everyone calls her." John lifted his chin in acknowledgment before his gaze turned back to the room before them. Rodney looked over the man, trying to deduce the tight expression on his face. "I'm sorry though. I mean, you haven't seen her and now that you're back and everything, then you hear this…" he gestured to the conference room behind them. "I'm sorry. Really."

John cast the astrophysicist a fixed gaze, "Thanks Rodney. I'm sorry too, about David."

Rodney only nodded as he looked over the embarkation room again. Jennifer was off talking to Elise, telling her about the possible threat. He sighed as the silence stretched on, "I gotta go."

"Yeah sure," John absently told him. Reluctantly, Rodney turned his back on his friend and made a start for the stairs when an alarm sounded through the room, _"Unscheduled off world activation."_ He and John spared a single glance with each other before rushing down the stairs and crowding into the control room.

The General turned up moments later, "What have we got?"

"Receiving SG-4's IDC," Brinks reported.

A short radio transmission came over the systems and filled the air around them, _"Open the iris we're under heavy fire. I repeat, we are under heavy fi-" _The voice was cut off by what sounded like a gun blast before another interrupted and finished the transmission off, _"Man down, I repeat man down. Major Saunders has been hit require immediate medical attention sir." _

"Stand by," Maverick spoke into the comms then turned to Brinks, "Open the iris." A nod in response and the Titanium shield fell away to reveal a rippling blue window. Three bodies spilled through first, one heavily hung between the two. It was a moment or two as blasts erupted through the puddle and a fourth body flew through the gate, rolling down the ramp and landing in a tumble at the bottom.

The medical team arrived and rolled the Major and Lieutenant out to the infirmary. "Captain, what happened?"

Captain Lars offered the General a tight lipped grimace, "We were attacked from nowhere and unexpectedly sir."

"Do we have any idea who attacked you?" He received a shake of a head as an answer. "Alright dismissed, go clean up. Debriefing in thirty minutes." Captain Lars left along with the doctor on the team, both silent and in deep thought about the recent mission.

The large group was around the table again, having grown slightly tired from the numerous phone calls that had been made hours ago. "It appears that this new race is indeed a threat. They seem to be attacking more and more planets without warning and we've had a total of five teams come back reporting the same thing happening. Luckily we haven't lost anyone yet. Of course that's excluding those still unaccounted for from the _Atlantis _expedition." He said these last words with softness, not wanting to sound too harsh about the situation.

"I have asked the President to stay on alert in case of the need of an emergency evacuation. NASA has been told to keep its radars open and to report any new sightings directly to us. Now, Colonel Sheppard. Is it possible to come to an agreement with these people?"

John shook his head gravely, "No sir. They do what they like whether or not we allow it doesn't matter to them."

"So what would you suggest we do?"

"Fight," was his automatic response. Many heads turned curiously at this comment. "They are dangerous sir, and I'll be dammed if they're gonna take this world. We know where they are, they don't know what we have technology-wise and that's gives us an advantage."

Nods of agreement soon followed this and murmurs of conversations beginning to start. They were all interrupted however, by the sudden appearance of another voice, "Well said Colonel." All eyes snapped to the stairs of the conference room, two men stood there, both in dress blues and a suitcase in one hand. "However, how can you be sure they don't already know?"

John turned to face the men, both older than him and clearly were men who followed rules and regulations to the 't'. "Because they quizzed me on Earth."

"And what did you tell them?" The two men pushed their way through the crowd towards the end of the table where the General was sat. They placed their suitcases on the desk and allowed John to answer.

"Nothing of course."

"But still, how can you be sure they weren't just reassuring themselves of what they already knew?"

General Maverick stood up from the table and squared his shoulders, facing the two gentlemen. "I'm sorry, you must be the President's adversaries. I didn't get your names."

"Eric Harding and this is my esteemed colleague William Cookson."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you left the man alone. No offence but he was there, he's been on their ship and knows what kind of people we're dealing with." John held his hands behind his back and raised his chin, nodding to the General in a silent thanks.

Eric turned to the General and opened the case he had brought with him, "Exactly my point General. He's had first-hand experience with them and judging from the reports, he doesn't _actually _know a lot about them. And about your idea to fight Colonel, you mustn't let your personal feelings get in the way of good decision making."

John took a step forward and instinctively Michael and Jack both took a small step in front of him. "My what?"

Harding seemed unfazed by the rude outburst as he continued on with his confrontation, "I understand your loss and I am sorry. Truly and deeply sorry. But killing others and putting other lives at risk will not bring her back or help you to get some peace." He didn't flinch at the outburst of John making a start for him. Eric only looked on as Jack and Michael pushed John back and away from the two adversaries.

Both father and son had to physically shove John down the stairs and out of the control room before he calmed down even a little bit. Jack, in his opinion, would have gladly let John have it out with the man. One thing he knew was that if a man was to ever hear such words, he wouldn't be able to control what happened next.

General Maverick pinched his eyes together as the trio of men left the room. He turned back to the two new men and tried to put on a friendly face, "I'm sorry you had to witness that."

"No need General, after years of isolation I doubt he's in full mind about civility," Eric commented.

William spoke next, speaking for the first time since he arrived, "Now, we need to get down to business." From his own case he drew out a yellow parchment folder with the state seal on it, and dropped it down onto the table. General Maverick and a few others held their breaths as they read the name of the file; OPERATION: BLACK ORION.


	6. Chapter 6

David rolled onto his side as his dream changed, the room being the easiest to recognise as his quarters, although it could have been theirs with the mixture of items that gathered themselves.

_A pair of arms were looped around his neck, a hand stroking soft caresses to his cheek comfortingly. He knew who it was without even having to turn around. Her lips touched the back of his neck sending a shiver down his spine, a flicker of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. _

_The movement of body heat caused him to worry, but only for a second as she appeared in front of him, warm smile lighting up her hazel eyes. He couldn't help but smile in return, remembering just what had happened when she had done this. _

_His hands automatically on instinct grabbed at her waist, gently teasing her onto his lap as her mouth met his, letting loose the cannon of passion that they had been building up over the past two months during that time on _Atlantis.

_Steamy kisses were exchanged as her hands kept his face locked with hers, pulling it closer as the deepening touch of their lips continued. His fingers tugged at the hem of her Johnny Cash t-shirt, a joke gift from Michael O'Neill many years ago. _

_One hand on her waist, the other just above her legs, they rolled back onto the bed, breaths ragged at the tension they were relieving. Once his hands finally came back to meet the skin underneath her shirt, running slow trails up her back, she broke away. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, her forehead resting against his, her breath beating heavily against his face, she flicked her eyes open and the temperature seemed to drop in the room. _

_He froze, staring up as she opened her mouth, "Run." He opened his mouth to say something, but she was torn away from him. David felt his body bolt up, trying to seek out her body, the thing being a bright light that only seemed to grow in intensity. Shielding his eyes with his arms, he shut his eyes. _

Cool air batted against his sweat slicked skin. David panted as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He was sat up on a bench inside one of the jumpers, a few others in the jumper just the same. There were a few marines, soldiers and Air Force personnel scattered across the outside land, slumped against the outside of the jumpers in their own world. "David? You okay?" Phil was asking from behind him.

The scientist opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of gunfire and voices shouting. Both men's eyes snapped to the tree line that surrounded them, two figures emerging, running. One of them held their gun up, being the source of the gunfire. The two men shared a quick glance before shooting to their feet and taking a few steps outside of the jumper they were in.

Major Brent Petti met the two tired people, Dr. Reynolds and Captain Dixon. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he said, voice almost screaming at them. Dr Reynolds opened her mouth to tell him, but was interrupted by weapons fire that sent up a blaze of fire and smoke in the tree line. "Everyone!" The Major shouted, using his own gun as an alarm system to wake up the heavy sleepers. "Evac' now! Into the jumpers!"

Everyone immediately followed his orders. David and Phil watched nearing ships shoot through their camp. Two large explosions sounded, shaking the ground and making everyone jump. "What the-" David started before being pushed onto the bench by a Lieutenant as he closed the hatch door behind him.

Torren sat in the co-pilots seat whilst Major Petti occupied the pilots seat, manoeuvring the jumper into the air and quickly turning on the cloaking fields. He tapped into the comm. system linked through all of the jumpers and checked that everyone else was cloaking their jumpers.

David glanced at the radar screen to see thirteen small dots and two larger ones behind the large crowd. He cast a look outside of the window to see one of the enemies ship fly overhead and shoot a single blast into what looked like thin air. Instantly a jumper de-cloaked and spiralled rapidly towards the ground, smoke billowing throughout the interior of the ship.

It happened again and Major Petti ordered everyone to switch to shields. He hoped that the shields proved to be better defences then the cloaking fields. Giving another order for everyone to circle round the 'gate before anyone even dialled, he pulled the jumper away as a weapons blast grazed the bottom of the shield. The impact rocked the ship slightly.

* * *

"What's operation BLACK ORION?" Vala asked, raising her eyebrows at William Cookson.

"Vala," Daniel hissed.

Her eyebrows shot up at him, "What? It's a perfectly good question."

Daniel opened his mouth to reply when Eric Harding butted in, "BLACK ORION is an emergency programme that was set up by the President a long time ago." He received a few questionable glances at the statement and elaborated for them. "In the event of an alien threat that threatens the lives of everyone of this Earth, then we are to set up a defensive base of operations to battle this threat, here, in the SGC."

"What?" Everyone shouted out, not quite sure where the idiocy had come from.

"Eric," John started, stepping forward.

"That's 'Sir' to you Sheppard," the man interrupted, earning himself a glare and look of disbelief.

"_Sir_," John tried again, "_With all due respect,_" Eric's face hardened at he sarcasm that the old Colonel was using. "There's no _defence_ when it comes down to these guys. They'd rather blow us out of the sky then talk peacefully to us."

William took a step forward, his own young face schooled to a blank mask. "Colonel, we've read your reports. They offer no information that is of use to us. The most you could give us was that they kept you locked in a cell that looked Ancient in origin. The only description you could seem to give us about these guys, is that they appeared to be young and possibly quite attractive."

John clenched his fists, his face twisting into anger ever so slightly. "Well no offence, but unless you attack them first," his hand shot up, pointing towards the ceiling as his voice rose. "They're gonna shoot at us, and guess who'll win."

"Colonel," Eric interrupted. The Colonel gave him a fierce stare that caused Jack to step forward, seeing the anger that was flooding through his body. "We understand your thoughts and we have taken them into account. But you cannot let personal feelings cloud your judgement."

"Personal feel-"

"We are sorry for your loss but you have to understand. Revenge will not bring her back, you'll have to forge-" he stopped speaking as John made a lunge for the man. Jack and Michael were the only things holding him back from turning the adversary into pulp.

Jack nodded to his son, dragging John out of the room as efficiently as he could. Everyone's eyes followed them and once they had left everyone's gaze turned sour towards the two men. General Maverick's eyes were glued to he ground for a second before he addressed the two visitors, "I'm sorry you had to witness that."

Eric shot the man a forced smile, "It's okay General, I only hope your other employees have a little more self respect." Cameron gripped Alex's arm as she made a small start towards the man. When she turned her gaze upon him he shook his head stiffly, staring at the two men with thoughts of painful torture running through his own mind.

The General's face hardened immediately, "No offence men, but I'd appreciate it if you'd showed my men and women the respect they deserve. If you can't simply acknowledge them then I suggest you leave my base and conduct your business elsewhere."

Eric cleared his throat, taking a tentative step back from the man as he reproached the others. "I've called in some experts to help with the matter. None of you will have to worry about anything, just allow us to handle."

"Experts?" Rodney called out. "Experts? Have any of these so called _experts_ ever gone through a Stargate? Have any of them ever been chased across fields by life sucking vampires or had to detonate a bomb with two seconds to spare to save everyone's life? I don't think so."

"Rodney," Jennifer chastised, wanting him to keep quiet.

"No, I'm serious. You kick us out, you'll have no experts." Everybody's head turned to look at the adversaries expectantly.

Eric delivered nothing but a hardened stare, unfazed by the coldness that he was receiving. "If I may offer some advice here," Vala interjected, disrupting the silence. Daniel spared her a glance and watched as she took a step forward, closer, towards Eric. "From my experience, before joining Stargate Command, these people, whoever they are, are waiting for something or someone. They're giving us time to formulate a plan and come up with some kind of defence despite trying to faze us into following their requests."

Cameron tapped Daniel's arm, drawing him closer as he whispered, "Are you sure we should be letting her speak?"

Daniel glanced at him, over to his wife and back again, shrugging his shoulders. Vala continued on, "They aren't attacking because they're looking for something or are waiting for something. Either they're expecting us to attack and are waiting, or they're looking for something that's possibly here, hidden. Now, what I would suggest, is-"

"Mrs Jackson," William cut in, halting her. "Thank you, but we'll wait for the experts to get here and then we'll discuss this with you further."

A moment of shock fell over the occupants in the room. "What?" Vala almost shouted.

Daniel took a step forward, taking hold of her arm in his hand, "Vala," he whispered, pulling her away.

"But I-" she started, failing to get it out as he took her gently out of the room.

Alex stepped forward, trying her luck, "No offence, _Sir_, but she has a point. What's more she has actually _had_ some experience with these sorts of situations." She was delivered patronising stares. "It'd be a good idea to listen to some of our ideas."

"Major," William looked down at her uniform, "Mitchell." His eyes jumped back up to meet hers and she stiffened at the threat that was bordering his voice. "This isn't your place to speak and it'd be a _good idea_ to keep in mind that I have enough power to demote you back to Captain."

Alex stiffened, straightening up into her military stance instantly. That, Cameron knew, was something that his daughter actually took great pride in; her military career.

"Permission to leave sir?" She quickly asked the General. He nodded and she promptly turned and walked out of the room.

Mitchell eyes followed her for a moment before he swung his own gaze back to the two men. Now it was his turn to step forward, almost toe to toe with William. He noticed that William was a big build, he'd guess he was an ex-marine. The man's black hair thinning at the hair line, highlighting his sharp, cold blue eyes.

Locking eyes with the man he watched, waiting to see if the other man squirmed from the proximity. After a few seconds he finally spoke, "She has a point. And so does Vala. It would be wise to listen to the people who actually know how to approach a situation. But seeing as how you don't want it, I'm no going to give it to you." He watched as Eric Harding opened his mouth to respond, but he beat the man to it, taking another step towards William, forcing him to take a step back. Cameron's voice dropped, whispering threateningly; "And for the record, if you ever threaten my daughter like that again, I will shoot you. Twice."

He gave the man a quick, sarcastic smirk and left the room, leaving behind him tension and awkwardness for the General to deal with.

* * *

Jack placed a cup of coffee in front of John. "Thanks," the man barely said. His fingers stretched out and gripped it firmly in his hands, eyes still roaming the table top.

Taking a seat opposite the younger man Jack took a slow sip of his drink, making a face at the downgrade coffee. He looked up at the Colonel's head, defeat in his eyes. "John," the name came out weary, tired and worn.

It gained the attention of the man, though. John looked up to stare, almost hauntingly into the old General's face. "She's a tough kid, I'm sure she's fine."

John almost gave a disbelieving snort in response, tears brimming on the edge of his eyes. "You really believe that Jack? You've seen what the universe is like." Jack opened his mouth to respond but found himself closing it. Unable to come up with a response he glanced away, catching Jacob, his oldest son, getting himself a cup of coffee.

* * *

Taking a glance around the cafeteria Jacob caught sight of Lyndon, flicking through a small journal and jotting something down every now and again. He quickly stalked over to the table and took a seat, gently sipping on his coffee. Dan only glanced up at him through his glasses and went back to his journal. Jake raised his eyebrows at the notion, "Hi, by the way."

"Yeah, hi," was the distracted reply.

Jake nodded at the response and took another careful sip. He'd had better coffee before. Looking over to Dan he took a glance at the journal. Dan was short for Lyndon, which was painfully agreed upon by both Daniel and Vala. Vala had originally wanted to name him Daniel Junior, of course the father had automatically said no, telling her that he would never, in a million years, name his son that. Of course she'd found a name that could almost abbreviate to Daniel, and he'd agreed after much pestering from her.

"So, how's Egypt?" The linguists and ex-free lancer's son spared him a glance, taking a moment to take a sip from his own drink.

"Fine I guess. Kids?"

"Yeah, they're good. Mary's slowly stealing my soul, but hey," this earned him a disapproving glance from the archaeologist. "What? It's true."

Silence passed between them for a second before Jacob laid down his coffee and eyed up the eldest Jackson. "You think this time it's serious?"

Dan didn't even spare him a glance when he replied, "When isn't it?"

"Jeez, pessimistic much?"

"What?" the archaeologist replied, forgetting about his notes temporarily. "This is our parents we're talking about." He couldn't argue with that, nodding his head in return a bit.

* * *

"No, absolutely not!" Chris almost shouted at his friends and team mates.

Michael rolled his eyes at him. "Why not?"

"They have no idea what they're doing," Alex added. "My dad's already opted for it. So's John."

"Yeah," Michael tried. "My parents are up for it, yours too! Even Dan agrees with us."

Chris looked between the two of them, then over to Xian who was silently watching the exchange. "What about you? Have they roped you into this craziness too?"

Xian looked at his injured friend and nodded. "Yes, I believe it's a good idea."

The alarms sounded overhead and Chris nodded to his eager friends, "Go, go, go. I'm not going anywhere."

"Unscheduled off world activation," Brinks alerted, monitoring the IDC screen as it confirmed the signature coming in. "It's Teal'c's sir."

"Open the Iris," General Maverick instructed, both Eric and William close behind him. Brinks nodded and as soon as the iris opened energy fire erupted in the 'gate room. Soldiers evacuated to the edges as two figured emerged, staff weapons firing off through the event horizon until it closed behind them.

Both Teal'c and Bra'tac stood there, staring at the 'gate for a moment until Bra'tac made the first move down the ramp, meeting a waiting Harding. "What happened?" He ignored this man, going straight past him and in search of the General. Jack and John stood, watching the man's reaction to being ignored before following the two Jaffa warriors.

Moments later, Bra'tac stood, pacing in the General's office. "We were attacked, our numbers wiped out. We were lucky to escape," the old man reported, concern and anger dominating his mood as he paused to look at the two Air Force men within the room. "Human."

"Bra'tac," Jack replied, still irritated by the name that the old Jaffa insisted to call him. "Any idea what we're dealing with big T.?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, casting a side long glance at his old team leader. "Something new, more powerful then the Goa'uld. I do not recall any tales of an enemy such as this."

"That's because there isn't any," Bra'tac interrupted.

"Yeah, thought you might say that," Jack answered back. "And you guys have been around for a while haven't you?"

"For many centuries, more then you have occupied the Earth." Jack nodded at his words and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Joe Maverick glanced down at his table, leaned backed in his chair and studied the men in front of him. "Sir," John said, eyebrows shooting up suggestively.

The General felt all four sets of eyes on him and glanced out towards the briefing room to see the two adversaries talking rapidly to each other, their eyes pinned to his office. He looked back up at the Colonel, delivering his best stern gaze he could for show. "The _Odyssey_ is due back, but it looks like we don't have time to waste and sitting around talking about it won't get us anywhere." He spared them all another quick glance, "Go, now, get out of my office. I want this matter settled without somebody using me as a scapegoat."

"Yes sir," Jack replied with a smirk, nodding to the other three members to leave the office.

* * *

Michael held the duffel bag close to his side, nodding non-conspicuously to a passing marine. Turning the corner he nodded to Teal'c and entered the rear of the jumper. The SGC had in their hands two jumpers that had been requisitioned from _Atlantis_ for research and for emergency rescue operations off world. His father nodded to him as he sat the bag down on the bench, large clinks echoing in the small space.

Alex pushed past him and opened the bag, taking out many spare clips for the P-90's that she, Laura, Jack and Xian had 'acquired' before hand. Chris walked in next, rubbing his side still as he placed a second bag down on the other bench inside the jumper. "How's the leg?" Jack asked, nodding in his general direction.

"Yeah, it's good," he answered, looking around and picking up a tac vest that had been pre-loaded with supplies. The SGC still had in its hands a Goa'uld healing device which Vala was able to get working again.

Sam and Rodney entered, carrying a laptop each along with backup power supplies. "Ya' done?" Jack asked, looking to the two of them.

"Yeah, I think so," Rodney replied, immediately heading into Jumper 1 and setting up his laptop.

"It should work," Sam told her husband with a small smile. They shared a brief hug and peck on the cheek, entered Jumper 2 and waited as Teal'c joined them, sealing the hatch behind him.

Jack, Sam, Daniel, Vala, Teal'c, Bra'tac, Michael, Chris and Xian all occupied Jumper 2 whilst John, Rodney, Jennifer, Laura, Carson, Ronan, Cameron and Alex occupied Jumper 1. Jack opened up the hatch that led down to the 'gate room and waited for Sam to type in the address of the Midway station. She gave a nod and Jack eased the jumper into the 'gate room. Eric Harding and William Cookson stood in the window, watching as he descended. He merely gave them a smirk, cocked his head and turned the jumper around and navigated it through the 'gate.

John soon followed with Jumper 1. Turning to face the two adversaries, he gave them a two fingered salute, waved to them and followed the first jumper through the 'gate just before the wormhole disconnected.

* * *

General Maverick nodded to the retreating Jumpers and closed his eyes briefly, collecting himself, before he turned and made his way towards his office. The black phone rang and he picked it up, "General Maverick here."

"_Sir,_" Jacob's nervous voice sounded over the phone. "_Can I ask you a favour?_"

He sat back in his chair and took a glance outside his window to the group of adversaries. He took a note of Eric Harding glaring at him, curious to who he was on the phone to. "Go ahead son, but I must tell you, I need to finish this quickly. I have a bunch of nosey hawks circling outside me door."

"_Gotcha, well, I actually phoned to tell you the wall for the fire pit has been built. We just need the actual barbeque that fits with it, ya'know that one you took._" The General laughed at the coded message. "_We'll need it back to complete the barbeque. So, any chance you could leave at the desk and Seona'll pick it up?" _

The General gave another short laugh. "I haven't seen her in a while. Send her down and perhaps we could have a nice chat." He then hung up the phone just as Eric walked through the open door to his office.

"General, may I ask what that was about?"

Joe Maverick smiled and cocked his head to the side, "Barbeques. Jacob O'Neill has done me the favour of building me a brick welled barbeque. Did you know that they are much safer and much more environmentally friendly for you then regular barbeques?"

The adversary gave a grunt and handed the General a list of equipment that he had and his colleagues would need in order to get their job done. "Not quite the time to be talking about barbeques now is it General," the man remarked as he made his way out.

He didn't see the smirk that flashed up on Mavericks features and disappear just as quickly. "Yes is it Eric, yes it is."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** So, once again, Thanks to my wonderful beta Bellkie! Thank you! And to my readers, thank you for sticking with me on this!

**Disclaimer:** Not mine

* * *

John put the Jumper into a glide path in the skies as he and everyone else inside analyzed the burnt and broken ground. "Erm, Rodney. Are you sure she dialed the right address?"

McKay spared him an angry look, "Yes Sheppard I'm sure. Sam's dialed the Alpha site dozens of times there is no way she got it wrong." After inputting the second address into the Pegasus 'gate on the midway station, the plan was to go to the Alpha site and from there, try to see what had happened and try to establish a wormhole to _Atlantis._

The old Colonel took another long look past the window, the Jumper flying over a crowd of fallen trees that seemed to spill onto a black clearing. There didn't seem to be any animals that jumped over the land. He also got the sense that the small boxes that were charred and thrown about below, held nothing but dust and crispy metal. "Well, where the hell are we?"

"I don't know okay?" McKay chastised, tapping madly at his laptop. The sound of keys being hit was the only sound that filled the Jumper. Laura stood up and moved towards the front, taking a glance out of the window as well.

John spared her a strained smile, she turned to look at a puzzled Rodney McKay. "McKay, if you got it wrong, I'm kicking your ass."

"Would you _please_ stop blaming me? The navigation system says we should be circling the Alpha site. Why we aren't is a mystery to me."

Ronan opened his mouth to speak, Jack's voice over the radio cutting him off as his voice filled up the space. _"McKay, where the hell are we?" _

Rodney gave a heavy sigh, his mood getting more and more pissed off as everyone put more pressure onto him. Hitting the Jumpers radio with more force than necessary he sharply replied back, "Look, General. This is the right address. The Alpha site is clearly not below us. I don't know any more then you do on the situation so please, give me chance to find out."

Whispers could be heard over the radio before Sam's voice filtered through. _"McKay, I sent you some information about when we came through the 'gate." _

"Got it," he replied, his voice easing back to normal slowly as he scanned through the data. Seconds ticked by as he read through it, deciphering the numbers in his mind before his eyes widened at a thought. "Do you really think so?"

"_It's the only explanation for it."_

He shook a finger at the radio, shaking his head as well as he countered, "But the computers didn't detect any solar flares and neither were any due."

"Wait a minute," John interrupted, "Are you say-" he took a breath as the emotion in his eyes flared to anger, "Rodney. If I've travelled 48,000 years into the future _again_ I'm not going to be happy!"

"Look!" McKay almost shouted at the man. "This was not supposed to happen. We checked the logs from the S.A.D.F. There was no logical reason to assume a solar flare would take place and jettison us into the future okay?"

Jack's voice entered the radio next his sarcastic tone not lost to anybody, _"Well this has put a dint in our plans don't ya' think?" _

The S.A.D.F, or Solar Activity Detection Facility, was a facility that was set up to study the patterns of the gases in the sun. Technology that had been given to them from an alien race, was adapted ever so slightly to adjust for solar radiation detection. A sudden peak in certain areas meant that a solar flare was about to take place. The machine was designed by the NeY'on's, and took into account patterns from the past and present and plotted a logarithm that spat out possible future solar flares. For the past fifteen years it had been really close to its predictions, the widest margin of error being approximately one hour.

The Jumper rocked, throwing Laura to the floor, as weapon's fire impacted upon it. _"Everyone okay over there?" _Jack asked.

John answered with a quick yes as another blast rocked the Jumper again. "I've got two bogeys at our six," he informed the older man over the radio. He watched as Jumper 2 sped away, an alien ship stalking its tail. The radar showed that the second ship was following him. Pulling the Jumper up he circled around, two more blasts zooming past the window.

"Hold on everyone," he called back. Almost immediately he applied the brakes, waiting until he saw the other ship fly past. Drones shot out from the Jumper and John gave the ship movement again, following his new prey as he kept firing drones at the ship's shields.

The shields seemed to take it all and John pressed even harder, keeping the stream of weapons going until he finally got a hit, sending smoke billowing up from its rear engines. Aiming a few more shots John was given the sight of an explosion as the ship hurtled to the ground and blew up upon impact.

He maneuvered the Jumper to face the Stargate. Jack seemed to be having more trouble shaking off his predator, so John moved his ship to hover over the active 'gate, wanting to get the enemy as they hurtled towards the 'gate.

Everyone watched as one of the enemy's blasts hit Jumper 2. John sent out a new stream of drones only to discover that this ship had shields too. Jack was already through the 'gate and John knew that this enemy was going to follow them through unless he stopped them.

Thinking of the only thing he could he took a nose dive with the Jumper. "Sheppard! What the hell are you doing?" McKay shouted out as other people called out the same thing.

The ship was in sight and the pilot altered his path flight ever so slightly. The side of the Jumper collided with the nose of the ship; a circular design with a smooth dome and elongated wings that smoothed out behind it to make it look even more curved and longer then before. The impact jolted both ships and John winced at the groan from the ship that echoed inside.

Pushing ever so slightly he bumped the other ship away, took off, circled round and let off another string of drones. These seemed to make an impact and he took off through the still active Stargate. He waited until it disengaged before landing the Jumper safely on the ground next to the other one.

Turning the Jumper's controls off, he listened as Rodney jumped out of his seat, opened the back hatch and muttered curses at Sheppard for his suicidal driving. He winced as he got out of his seat and took a place next to McKay outside to survey the long scratch that etched its way four feet long and at least a foot wide.

Laura was next to him, attaching her P-90. "That's it," she called out, "I'm swapping pilots." Jack came over to see what the fuss about, wincing at the sight as he gave John a heartfelt pat on the back.

"So what now?" Cameron asked as he clipped on his own gun.

"Well," Jack started, clipping a P-90 to his tac vest. "Take a look around, see if there's anything we can use and then we'll see if the Athosians are still around." The old General cast an uncertain glare to McKay, who flustered at the look and disappeared back inside the jumper.

They split off into different teams. Sam and Rodney stayed behind to analyze the data they had received from the Stargate feed with Cameron and John canvassing the surrounding area in case of any hidden threats.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Alex shouted out. "Erm, guys!" Michael was the first to reach her, almost throwing up his guts instantly the moment he saw what she had found. Jack softly moved her out of the way and peeled the bushes back. The sound of retching made him wince.

But he almost retched himself.

A skeleton, clad in _Atlantis_ BDU's, blackened with rotting skin was still decaying with a putrid smell. Jack shied away slightly before a glint of silver caught his eyes. Taking a deep breath he reached forward and tugged a set of dog tags away. He jumped when the skeleton moved.

"Who is it?" Daniel asked.

Turning the metal over in his hands, he scrubbed off the blood that had dried and squinted at the name underneath.

"Brent Petti. Major," he said shrugging his shoulders not having recognized the name.

"Petti?" Michael asked, still looking a little flustered.

"Yeah," his dad said.

"I know him," the son replied, clicking his fingers.

Alex appeared next to him, still wiping a hand across her face. "Wasn't he transferred over to _Atlantis_ a few years ago?"

"Yeah he was. Something about outstanding performance," he answered back. A stiff unfriendly silence tickled the back of their necks. Brent Petti was on the missing list of _Atlantis_ personal and his dead and decaying corpse had been found at the Alpha site.

It irked them all.

"Alright, let's get back to the Jumpers and get out of here," Jack ordered as he pocketed the tags.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the old General's orders. "Should we not search the vicinity more clearly O'Neill."

All eyes turned to him as he sighed heavily. "No offence T, but by the looks of it, we're not going to find anything other than skeletons. Let's go people!"

Once back inside the jumpers they opened up a wormhole to New Athos.

* * *

On the other side of 'gate, everyone let out a sigh of relief at seeing life on the planet below them. They also caught sight of a few military people flitting through the usual quiet camps. They seemed to be busy. Noticing a clearing big enough to park the two Jumpers Jack told John and both made a descent towards that area.

Jack heard the rear hatch open and turning to look at it he jumped back in his seat as the Jumper was infiltrated by Air Force personal, Marines and other military people. Gripping his P-90 in his hand he jumped to his feet, "What the hell is going on?"

He didn't receive an answer, only more steely eyed glares from the uniformed people. The next moment blasts erupted inside the Jumper and Jack watched as its occupants fell. "Hey!" A stunner was trained on him and before he knew it, his world turned black.

* * *

Her head pounded against the inside of her skull. Laura groaned as she tried to pull herself up, having trouble with her hands being bound tightly behind her back. "Wha-" she managed before her throat closed up dryly.

A second groan caught her attention. Pushing her body up she glanced around the dim setting to find the owner of the sound; Jennifer. "Jen? You alright?" Laura managed in a hoarse whisper.

"Ow. No. What was that?" was the groggy reply.

"Stunners." She then wriggled her hands about to see if she could pry them loose. Her fingers felt the knot and she cursed. It would be almost impossible to get herself free from her position. Heaving a sigh she fingered the knot and pulled at the ropes when someone threw open the tent flap and flooded the dark room with light.

Someone in a military uniform stepped into Laura's peripheral view. Angling her head up she glanced at the black stitched name on the uniform; Dixon. The name clicked in her mind, there was a Major Dixon who was working in Atlantis before it was gone. "Major Dixon right?" she asked.

The woman in question ignored her question and picked up the handgun from its holster on her leg. "Who are you?"

"What?" Laura heard Jennifer hiss from her side.

"Laura Beckett."

A scoff sounded and her back stiffened as she watched the Major's finger slip around the trigger of the gun. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth," she called back.

"Right," Dixon joked, stepping around the table that was littered with papers, cups, boxes, pens, a laptop and even a Zat'ni'katel. "Next thing you'll be telling me is that she's Dr Jennifer McKay. Wife of Dr Rodney McKay."

"I am!" Jennifer shouted as she struggled with her bonds.

The Major's eyes darkened as she took a step towards the two ladies. Crouching down, the gun wavered between the two of them, finger still locked around the trigger as Dixon's eyes looked from one woman to the next and back again. "See, that there is the problem. Twelve years ago, you two, along with several other people, all disappeared from the SGC with two jumpers." Her eyes looked back to Laura, looking her up and down before doing the same to the Doctor.

"That's because we're here," Laura ground out through gritted teeth. "McKay says we travelled in time."

The Major's fiery gaze turned back to the ex Air Force woman's. "That, seems like the kind of story _they'd_ try to pitch. Say that they're you, show up in the exact same way that you disappeared." The gun swung back to the Doctor. "I must say, it is a pretty convenient story don't you think."

Laura rolled her eyes and fixed her gaze on Dixon's. "Look. I have no idea what the hell is going on here, but I can assure you that we are the real deal. I am Laura Beckett and this is Jennifer McKay. Our friends are the ones that apparently disappeared as you say."

Silence filled the room for several minutes before the Major abruptly stood up and turned back to the table. Setting the gun down Laura watched as she picked something else up. When she turned back around she saw the standard issue military knife. She felt Jennifer stiffen and try to back away as the Major neared them once again.

A towel was gripped in her other hand and Laura fiddled with the knot even more so as Dixon neared her first. The Major walked behind her and put an arm around her neck. "Keep still and it won't hurt as much, or scar for that matter." The knife came out in front of her and Laura immediately tried to pull away until the Major yanked her back to her. "Hold still! It's a simple test." The knife traced its way along her cheek, the cold steel chilling against her skin.

A sharp scratch caught her just behind the back of her jaw on her left. A warm trickle slowly caught her attention and Laura tried to struggle away again. "Look! I believe you, I think. You are who you say you are okay?" The words halted the woman in her struggles as the towel touched her face where she had just been cut. "Blood's red in the skull. You're not one of them. Just hold that there for a second." Dixon promptly cut the ropes and waited for Laura to take the towel before performing the same quick cut on Jennifer.

Happy that the cut wasn't going to bleed anymore Laura rounded on the Major. "Just what the hell is going on?"

Dixon barely glanced at her as she cleaned the knife and put the handgun back into its holster. "It's standard procedure. It helps us to identify who's real and who isn't." Dixon turned to face the two women and held out an arm to the open flap of the tent. "Welcome to New Earth."

"What?" Jennifer whispered as she followed Laura out.

They both surveyed their surroundings; a few small groups of people, Athosian and military, sparring with each other. Tents lined the edges of the forests and circled around towards the small river that ran off down the embankment on the other side. An area had been cleared as a landing pad for the many Jumpers that now sat there. The Stargate was visible on a small concrete set of steps towards the furthest end of the camp. To complete the camp, sat a large fire pit in the centre of it all, black and charred wood turning grey.

People of all ages and races lounge on logs, homemade benches and man-made stools, chatting. A large table, extended on the other side of the fire, seated dozens of people, all tucking in to boxes of food, fresh fruit and meat.

"What's happened?" Laura said, taking in the sight.

Dixon sighed and turned to find the two women's friends, "We'll explain everything to you. For now," her back on the two women she called out; "Cooper!"

A man, barely in his twenties stumbled over and gave the Major a salute, "Yes Ma'am."

She rolled her eyes and thumbed a hand over her shoulder, "Take these two to Base of Operations."

"Yes Ma'am," he said, saluting again, his blue eyes sparkling with joy and pride. "Ladies, if you will."

* * *

John, Rodney and Mitchell were ushered out of a tent together, rubbing their wrists whilst Rodney complained about the small nick they had received. "I mean, what if they missed! They could have cut a major artery and then we'd be bleeding - oh God they could have killed us accidentally."

"McKay," John said, his tone shutting the other man up. Cameron smirked and paused in his steps as shouts sounded out. Following the direction of the voices, all three heads turned towards the activating Stargate.

Sheppard watched as military personnel gathered round. A passing Major yelled into her headset, "Beckett! Gonna need your hands here, Sheppard's down." The names caught his attention and he stepped forward, the other two men doing the same.

"'Sheppard'," he whispered, taking a further step forward as the 'gate established a stable wormhole.

"You guys alright?" Jack asked, his voice distant in John's ears, the only sound filling them being the sound of his blood pumping.

He almost jumped back as blasts came through, striking somebody on the shoulder and narrowly missing others. The armed people gathered around the 'gate steadied themselves, preparing to shoot at anything that came though.

Somebody came through, he didn't recognise her, and braced himself as she too trained her gun on the event horizon.

Moments later, three more bodies came through, one of them slouched over as the other two carried them. John watched as they dropped the person when she writhed with agony, collapsing to the ground before falling still. Roaming the scene he watched as a doctor; Phil he assumed, quickly stepped up once the Stargate disconnected itself. "Oh God," was the medic's immediate diagnosis. "Torren, what the hell happened?"

The old Colonel's gaze turned to the tanned man, his back straight and firm, reminding him of Teyla. "We were ambushed by the Wraith."

"And this?" he examined her neck and John strained to see past the milling nurses and doctor's that surrounded her and the other three members of the team.

"Must've ran into a web or something," the first woman said.

Phil helped the fallen person onto a gurney, motioning for the others to follow. Someone approached the group, his face worried as he neared the gurney, "Addy? Oh God, Addy?"

"David," Phil ushered, pulling the man away. "She'll be fine."

"But I- she," he flailed as Torren rested a hand on his shoulder and pulled him away.

"Captain Lars," the doctor called as the other nurses disappeared into the medical tent, a simple tent with a red cross painted on the side. "I need to know what happened."

_So do I._ John thought as he made his way towards the tent, keeping himself to the shadows. Getting to the open flap he instinctively took a step back at the sight; an Iratus bug was fixed firmly on her neck, a gash in the bugs side.

His eyes were fixed on her pale face, contorting with grimace's every so often. "We were ambushed and we got split up. We were to rendezvous at a clearing near to the Stargate, so when she didn't turn up after twenty minutes we called her. We tried again and finally she answered, giving us a rough location." The Captain paused and John found himself watching the young woman's face, worry and pain crossing her features.

The Captain continued on, "We found her lying there, barely conscious with the bug attached. That wound on its side, it was already there when we found her."

"Which could mean it drained her of more to account for the wound," Phil quickly diagnosed as he cut open the Colonel's left pant leg to reveal a wound badly dressed and still pouring a thick river of blood. "Oh bloody hell. Gauze, suction," he commanded as he began to check her readings on the monitor she was attached to. "How long has it been attached for?"

"Erm," John's eyes were fixed on his daughters, worry twisting his gut the more he watched. "We think for at least an hour. Could be more."

A few minutes passed as Phil patched up the apparent stab wound, then quickly addressed the machines. He seemed to pause, contemplating his options. "Doctor, what are you waiting for?" one of the nurses asked.

He gave her a look, turning his gaze away and caught John's, shock coming over his features. Phil froze until he was nudged out of his trance and back to his patient. "If we shock her, with the time it takes to pull the thing off, there's a risk because of the time it's been attached and the wounds she's already received." He sighed for a moment and locked eyes with John. "But if I don't it'll drain her to death."

John nodded stoically, and watched as Phil reluctantly nodded back. "Prep the paddles. I want two five milligrams of adrenaline on standby."

The medic spared the older man a fleeting glance before taking the paddles in his hands and counting everyone down. On one he pressed the paddles to her stomach and stepped back. John watched, fists clenched as he replaced the paddles and gave a tug on the bug. It refused to move for a few moments and John felt the temperature rise as more time passed. Phil tugged on the creature again, almost a minute and a half later, and slowly pried it off.

Throwing it away he turned back to the paddles and shocked her again. John watched as Phil shocked her once more, paused, checked the monitor and took one of the needles and jabbed it straight into her chest. The flat tone on the monitor tore at John's heart as he prayed for her to live.

Phil then delivered chest compressions and John waited, watching her pale face for any indication of life. Phil went to put his fists together, standing over her again when a beep sounded, sighs of relief filling the room. John almost fainted at the sound, laughing to himself.

He kept near to the entrance as Phil and the other medics patched her up and put her into a stable condition. With his eyes transfixed on his daughter's pale face, he almost missed the soft hand on his shoulder gently pulling him forward. It was Phil, a soft smile on his features as he sat the old Colonel down onto a stool next to her bed.

"Thanks," he choked out, slipping a hand into hers. He felt the younger man leave and immediately felt the full force of the tears behind his eyes. Wrapping her cold hand in both of his, he brought it up and leaning his elbows on the edge of the bed, kissed her fingers and set them in his fist, underneath his chin as the tears flowed freely down his face.

* * *

His hand outstretched to an empty bed and John almost fell off the stool as she bolted upright. "Well I wanna know who the idiot is that deemed that planet safe. I'm going to shoot them myself!" The voice slurred the more she talked and John looked to the owner; Addy, perched on the edge of the bed.

John rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and listened to Phil's answer, "Well not right now you're not."

"To hell I'm not," she called and John's heart skipped a beat when she jumped off the bed and her knees buckled underneath her.

He leapt to his feet and helped Phil to get her back onto the bed, "Do I have to restrain you?" the Scotsman asked. He received a drugged mumble in reply as the woman's eyes drooped close and she fell back to sleep.

"Will she be alright?"

"Aye, just a few days in bed," the medic told him with a sigh, muttering a quick, "If she listens," underneath his breath that gave John a small smile.

The next time John woke up he was on the stool, and a dreary set of hazel eyes peering at him skeptically. He pulled himself away, keeping his gaze fixed on a set similar to his. "Dad?" echoed from her mouth and a small tight smile tugged at John's lips. Hers soon followed the same path and he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Hey kiddo," he said simply, a full schoolboy grin extending to his whole face.

Hers did the same, and for once, John felt as if he was back on Earth, just him and his daughter together on the couch, or in her bed getting ready for bed. _God how much I've missed,_ he said to himself as he brought a hand up to stroke her hair from her face, resting it on top of her head and continuing its actions. "You missed pizza night," she whispered and John laughed, almost hollowly.

That was the day that he had been taken; a Friday, pizza night. "I'm sorry Madeline, I'm sorry." Instinctively he kissed her forehead, and when he pulled back, he caught sight of a few tears running down her cheeks.

"Mommy!" A voice interrupted. John pulled back and turned to look at the owner, a young boy, no older than ten, jetting across the room and jumping directly onto the bed that his daughter was laid in. "Mommy!" he squealed again.

John turned back to see David tromping in. He turned to look at Madeline again, mouthing one word in question, "Mommy?"


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Doesn't belong to me but to the MGM and co.

* * *

Dan and Heather pulled up to Jacob's garage. They'd managed to escape the SGC and the annoying Eric Harding after telling the man they had to leave. "Where are you going?" he had demanded, face turning red with anger.

"We've got some stuff to do," Heather had rebuked casually, shrugging her shoulders as she gave a non-passive glance.

"Like what?"

"Ya'know," Dan answered, providing his own shrug, "Stuff." He had then pushed Heather into the lift and punched the button for the top floor. He then drove them to Jacob's garage, all three of them having agreed to it and making a plan to meet the others there. As Dan held the door open for Heather to walk through, two sets of eyes turned to them, silencing any conversation that had previously been taking place. "Hey guys," Dan tried, a smile on his face.

Katrina Beckett jumped off her chair and strode over to him, her eyes a shade darker as she pulled back her fist and punched him in the arm.

Dan immediately pulled it close to him, rubbing at it with his free hand, "Ow." Katrina had a hard fist from doing Karate since she was 8 and everyone knew this.

"Why didn't you stop them?" She almost shouted, her voice hinting at a slight Scottish accent that slipped in every now and again.

"Well what did you want me to do? Tie them to their chairs and tell them they're not moving?"

"Guys!" Elise McKay shouted to break up the ensuing argument that was soon to take place. Katrina relented, sighed and stormed back to her seat as the garage door slammed open and Seona Beckett stormed into the room and threw her bag onto the side.

Jacob grudgingly followed her and gently closed the door behind him. "Why? Why," the woman began, "Do they have to be stupid sometimes? Seriously, can't they leave things alone for two minutes."

"They did for about twenty-five years," Jake replied. Seona merely shot him a glare and situated herself on the side of a workbench, clearing all of the tools to one side.

"So, what's really going on?" Katrina interrupted, dragging the attention to the situation at hand.

A sigh escaped Jacob's lips. "Michael and co. are attacked off world, say it's a new enemy. John turns back up, _Atlantis_ was evacuated the rest of our friends missing and our parents decided to go against orders and joyride the two Earth based Jumpers through the 'gate."

Silence greeted him for a second before Dan furrowed his brow and opened his mouth, "When you put it like that, Seona has a very good point."

"Thank you," she replied.

Heather rolled her eyes, "Yeah but that's not all. The President sent a couple of 'experts' and they're on the path of attacking this enemy."

"And the problem is?" Katrina asked.

"They were warned not to by the enemy and John says not to as well," Jacob answered.

"Oh," she said turning away to mull it over.

"So what do we do?" Elise asked everyone, being greeted with shrugs of shoulders and shakes of heads.

Jacob slung an arm around Dan's shoulders and grinned, "Well, why not just ask Dan. When it comes to plans, he's just like his mother. Smart, strange, weird, but always good in the end."

Dan rolled his eyes and pushed the offending limb from his shoulders. "Well, I was thinking of Seona."

"In what way?" the woman in question asked, her voice threatening.

"Not, no, not like that. I mean, you've been in Mexico conducting explosion tests right?"

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes, "Test fires for a probable weapon to work against shield generators and the like whilst commenced in a deep space battle. Why?"

"Well, the Presidents adversaries are planning on firing at them, nukes obviously won't work so why not field test one of your weapons?" he gave a final shrug.

"I thought we were trying to _not_ do that," Elise almost shouted at him.

"Not _actually_ fire at them, but make it look like we are firing at them and let them think that they hit their target."

Silence was his answer and Jacob was the one to break it, "Dan my good friend, _you," _he waved a finger at him. "You, truly are a mastermind."

Dan rolled his eyes again and strode over to the mini fridge in the back of the room and removed a beer. He offered one to Seona who took the offer and soon Elise, Katrina and Heather were asking for the same beverage. Jacob refused and held up his cup of coffee to show. Once drinks were opened and gulps taken, Elise spoke, "That could work ya'know. I mean, she has a pass for the SGC."

"Yeah, but I don't know my way around the place. It's a maze!"

"So we'll draw you a map," Elise shot out, her words dripping in sarcasm as she earned a glare from Seona.

"So we've got an insider, a plan. Now all we need are the necessary tools," Jacob started when a knock at the door interrupted his line of speech. Setting his cup of coffee down he strode over and opened it, one Mary soon not to be O'Neill standing there, arms crossed as two smaller children launched themselves at him. "Hey guys," he started until the look on Mary's face told him they needed to talk.

He pushed them inside and both Heather and Seona scooped up the two children; Anthony and Rosaline O'Neill. Both were only eight and five years old. "Hey Rosie," Heather cooed as Seona seated Tony on the bench next to her and begun a conversation about his week at school.

Faint arguing could be heard through the crack in the door and Elise opened her laptop up and sighed. "Ah, marital bliss. That'll never be me." Everyone gave her a stare as she booted the computer up. "What?"

"That'll be you long before it's me," Seona remarked as she moved the half full beer bottle from Tony's reach.

"Whatever," the younger girl remarked as Dan got closer and leaned in next to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Well," she took a swig and put the bottle arm's length away. "At college, me and a few friends have been working on this thing, kinda like a game programme. It's basically a 2-D virtual reality that can be adapted to whatever your needs. We were working on this programme that could possibly help train people better for all sorts of jobs; ya'know, like piloting, ship controls, disarming a bomb; we're still working the kinks in that one; and it can even be used to simulate life like scenarios to the viewing people on a screen."

"Huh," was the collective response.

Jacob walked back in and picked up a begging Rosie, "Hey, c'mon Tony. Let's get you guys home. Sorry everyone, fatherhood calls."

Nobody argued as he guided the two children out of the workshop towards the back of the shop. "Right," Dan started. "We've now got the programme, but doesn't the SGC have like some sort of firewall."

Elise nodded and opened up the programme she was talking about. She typed away at the laptop and everyone crowded round until the door to the shop opened and Jacob stood in the doorway. "Hey Dan," he threw a set of keys which Dan caught, "Lock up for me."

"Sure," he replied and stuffed the keys into his pocket. He turned his attention back to the screen as the sound of a car door slamming greeted his ears. "So, how do we get this into the SGC's computers?"

"Easy," the college student replied. She tapped away and a dialogue box opened up followed by a second and third dialogue box. "What we do, is we take the firewall access code and put it into the backdoor of the programme. Now, this only lets the computers at the SGC know that they have the same frequency as this. So, in order to get in, we need to integrate that code as a subliminal code into every piece of data," another dialogue box opened up revealing dotted lines waiting to be filled. "That way, we can slip right in, take control from here, and operate it off base without them knowing until hours later."

Katrina spoke up, "Wait, wait, wait. You're saying, we should hack into a secret facility's base computer and take almost complete control in order to just initiate some sort of false attack that we hope the dunces will believe. On top of that, we have to send Seona in to set this up and hope that she doesn't get caught whilst we all participate in an act of treason and possible anarchy against the President?"

Seona nodded her head in agreement. "Sounds good to me."

"What if it costs you your job? What if they find us?" the younger Beckett rebuked.

"They won't," Elise ground out as if talking to a little child. "Zach has this second programme that can make the IPS jump from terminal to terminal of different countries all over the world as well as several within the same continent. We use that, put that into the system and voila."

Katrina eyed the girl up. "What kind of college do you guys go to?"

"Harvard. Why?"

"You happen to know how to hack into secure computer bases whilst 'Zach' can mask that signal." Elise shrugged and tapped away at the keys for a few more seconds before pressing enter and the CD drive opened.

"Here," she handed it to Seona and finished tapping at her laptop again. "Put that in your laptop. That way, I can manipulate the controls from here so you won't have to do a thing."

"Thanks," the older woman grumbled. "I'm not an idiot you know."

"Yeah, but one wrong key and we're found."

* * *

Major Petti did a head count. His shoulders sagged as he realised that since starting with just over 150 people, he was down to a mere 63. 17 jumpers had become 8. He quickly delivered orders to set up hourly perimeter checks and to forage for supplies as well as keeping any scientists and other non-military personnel calm. Once done, he trudged back into Jumper 4, meeting David McKay in the pilot's seat as Torren sat in the co-pilot's seat. "Anything?"

"Radar's clear. We seem to be in the clear for now, but I don't know what kind of ships they were."

"Well check the database."

David sighed. The database, was an Ancient system that had been placed in all of the Jumpers when they were first built, but hadn't been accessed until a few years ago by accident. It was the same glitch that deemed cloaking inside the city unusable, that opened up the Ancient library of space craft.

It appeared that the Ancients had set up a series of satellites all over several galaxies and several planets and they seemed to catalogue every ship that passed it within a light-years distance every month; the satellites being the same distance apart to be able to reach every sector of space; and noted down its dimensions, weaknesses, layouts and the components it was made out of.

David sighed as he scrolled through another page of 'probable' ships and found nothing again. It had seemed like a pointless task but a thought occurred to him as he leaned back into the seat. The ships that had fired at them were not in the database. Nobody had seen anything like them and nobody had remembered seeing any picture in caves or on walls during any of their off world missions.

The satellites also worked on a monthly cycle, which meant that the log should be up to date as its last scan was just last week, three days before the Wraith attack. There was three possibilities that came to life in his mind.

One; the people on the ship may have time travelled from the future, he liked this idea for the plausibility, but disliked it. Anybody who had seen any TV or were that smart, knew that travelling into the past could alter the time line. So that idea was thrown out almost straight after. Two; they had come from a galaxy that the Ancients hadn't yet reached, which seemed unlikely to him as the Ancients were the builders of the Stargate. The new enemies wouldn't have been able to get to where they are just by space travel otherwise they would have out themselves down on the database.

So that left him with possibility number three; they had come through from an alternate reality. He knew it was possible, knew it could be done. But he didn't know how it could be possible to get an entire ship through, to an alternate reality and still be in one piece. The way that they anybody had managed to travel between parallel universes was through the quantum mirror and the one that they had was locked away in Area 51.

Major Petti stood behind him again, asking the same question about what he had found. "They're not in here."

"What?"

"They're not in here which means that the Ancients have never dealt with them or have yet to encounter them," he explained.

"So," The Major started. "What _do _we know about them?"

David wagered the options in his mind again and shook the thoughts away. "I don't know. It could mean almost anything," he ground out, frustration gritting him at not being able to grasp at answers.

* * *

John sat there, repeating the word in his mind; _'Mommy'_. Something about that didn't seem to make much sense in his mind as he stared at the little boy that was now clinging to his mothers neck.

"Jonny," David trawled out like a disappointed father. "You heard Uncle Phil, Mommy needs her rest."

"It's fine David," the mother in question smiled back and only hugged the boy to her body more tightly. "Hey Jonny."

"Mommy," he repeated giddily. Madeline laughed and John caught the faint smile curling the corners of David's lips.

The younger man turned to face him and jumped. John nodded stiffly and got a forced smile and a wave in return. "Hi," David tried.

"Hey."

"Erm," he stumbled for his words for a few seconds before clearing his throat and adverting his gaze, "Jonny, lets leave Mommy to rest now. C'mon." The boy whined and John felt himself smiling at the sound. He'd heard it before and those times flashed through his mind and quickly disappeared when the boy in question turned a quizzical glare upon him. "Addy, we'll see ya later."

"Bye, bye Jonny," she called to the retreating people and Jonny waved back over David's shoulder. She gave a sigh and finally laid her eyes back onto her own father. A nervous chuckle escaped her lips.

John turned his gaze back to his resting child, a smile on his lips. "Jonny?"

She smirked back and without opening her eyes answered his question, "It was David's idea."

* * *

Mitchell rested his arms on the back rest of the chair as he waited for Major Dixon to begin her explanation. The entrance to the tent became overshadowed as a second man, a Colonel from his stripes, entered, nodded to the Major and came to stand next to her. Cameron watched as the Colonel's eyes glided over everyone, settled on him for a fraction of a second longer and disappeared back to the Major.

"We gonna get this party started then?" Cameron asked. He received a mixture of stares, nods of agreements and rolls of the eyes.

The Colonel nodded and allowed Major Dixon to begin. "Fifteen years ago, the city of _Atlantis_ was attacked in a massive serge by the Wraith. We'd known for a while that their numbers had been rising, but we hadn't thought it was so high." She paused, made sure she had everyone's attention, and then carried on. "We had no choice but to evacuate everyone and set the self destruct."

The Colonel cleared his voice and took over. "At the same time, many teams on Earth were coming in hot, having been attacked on their planet by a mysterious new alien race. After talking with many locals and searching through the Ancient database, we were unable to identify who they were." His hand skimmed across the table in front of him and he brought up a sheet of paper. On it, was a picture of the ship that everyone had seen on the screen at the SGC. "This is what their space craft looks like."

"No offence it seems like a great report," Daniel interrupted, "But is there anything we _don't_ know about."

"Of course," Dixon answered. "Soon after you guys had hijacked a couple of Earth based jumpers, the General opened up a wormhole to the Alpha site. Nobody reported seeing any jumpers or that their gate had been active since the _Atlantis_ evacuation. So, we immediately knew that something had happened to you." She took a sharp intake of breathe, exhaled and continued. "We didn't know what and many possibilities were drawn up."

"About a month after your teams left, the alien threat stayed true to their word and attacked the major cities all across the globe. Defence teams were dispatched in fighter jets to combat against the smaller crafts." The Colonel bowed his head, "They were unsuccessful and only managed to destroy a handful of ships."

Dixon pulled a screen control into her hand and pressed a button. The screen behind her flicked on and everyone surveyed the image carefully. "One of our pilots accidentally got onboard. He then took a tour of the place, mapped it out on a live camera feed."

A video appeared and everyone watched as the scene showed smooth hallways decorated in light colours. John, Rodney, Ronan, Carson, Jennifer and Laura all looked at each other, silently nodding in agreement before turning back to watch. The video showed the same person carefully making his way down a series of corridors and through a door that slid away as he neared it. Inside, it showed a power column emitting a purple glow. Moments later an alarm rang and the pilot seemed to jump about before being found. The screen quickly changed to fuzzy black, white and grey dots as many human looking people appeared to shoot at him.

"As you can see, the alien species looks very similar to humans and the technology is far beyond our level."

"_Atlantis,_" John said.

"Excuse me?" The Colonel asked.

"It looked similar to _Atlantis,_" Rodney helped.

Dixon shared a look with the Colonel and turned back to the people. "That's where the story gets interesting." She clicked the button again and the screen changed. Jennifer and Carson's interest spiked and they both gasped at what they saw. "I thought you two might be interested."

"But it can't be," Carson said.

"That's not possible," Jennifer added.

"Yet it's there," Major Dixon supplied with a grim smirk.

Bra'tac stepped forward, "What is this?"

"This, is the DNA of one of those aliens. When we brought one of their smaller shuttles down we investigated, opened the thing and found one of them inside. Obviously we wanted to know more about who we were fighting and this is what we got."

Carson stepped forward, observing the image carefully. "There's inconsistencies though. I mean, the genetic markers seem normal but, they're unstable."

"Clones," Jennifer summed up.

"What?" Everyone else seemed to shout.

"Yes," Dixon answered. "That's the same conclusion we came to. The DNA was almost perfect. An almost perfect replication of the Ancients DNA. Unfortunately for them, their biology make-up was never stabilised."

"Wait, wait, wait a minute," Alex interrupted. "You're saying, that they're _clones._ And that they are _unstable_ clones?"

"Yes."

"So how are they still here then?" Daniel asked the million dollar question.

The Colonel nodded to Dixon to change the screen. A picture showing a DNA strand, circling, popped up. A second later part of it lit up and expanded. "The Ancient gene marker," Carson told them.

"That appears to be the only thing about them that is unstable," the Colonel pointed out. "We know the Ancients had very powerful genes and it appears that whoever made these tried to recreate that same level."

"With some level of uncertainty," Jennifer pointed out. A thought suddenly hit her. "Whoa wait a minute," her eyes turned to John. "You."

"Me?"

"Yes you. You have a naturally strong gene, probably one of the closest things to the actual Ancients. Whoever made these clones may not have compared the two so well and maybe only worked with guess work."

"I think I see where you're going with this," Carson smiled.

Jennifer returned the smile and continued on. "Whoever they are, would need a sample of the gene in order to know how it's linked in with normal DNA. That explains why they were so interested in your gene like you said."

John shrugged, "That kinda makes sense."

"No, it does," Sam added. She received looks from everyone, causing her to elaborate. "Whoever made these clones gave them such a strong level of gene, that it distorted their other functions almost. In order to compensate for this, their bodies are breaking themselves down. The only way to possibly negate this, would be to get a sample of a natural gene and recreate that structure."

"Huh," Vala said.

"Yes," Dixon inputted. "That's the same conclusion we came to Mrs O'Neill. The Absurds were an unstable race but when they attacked Earth they also took prisoner those that had the gene. It seems like they've managed to recreate the natural factor of it as you said, and now we haven't been able to come close to defeating them again."

"I'm sorry," Jack interrupted, "but the _'Absurds'? _Kinda crappy name don't ya think?"

"Well," the Colonel began, "They never gave us a name and it seems the best way to describe them."

Jack's head bobbed from side to side as he thought it over, "Well, when you put it like that."

"What d'ya mean, you 'haven't come close to defeating them again'? Have you already tried to attack them?" Cameron asked.

Dixon answered his question, "Yes, right before we fled Earth. I'm sure you all remember operation: BLACK ORION?" After receiving various nods and shrugs she carried on. "That plan was taken into effect when the Absurds were still unstable. We'd managed to send a black ops team onto one of the ships through the hanger bay. Their mission was to plant C-4 explosives within that chamber you saw before on the video."

"And?"

"They never made it."


End file.
